Former Dutch Consul-General on reviving the Kurdistan Region's economy

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — Willem Consijn is Netherlands' former Consul-General to Erbil. He was interviewed by Rudaw’s Kani Halabjayi in July, and spoke of the consulate’s work to boost the Kurdistan Region’s economy. 

The Netherlands has built up two glass and plastic greenhouses in Erbil for more than six million euros. 

The two greenhouses are built to test the Kurdistan Regions environment for certain fruits and vegetables. It they are successful, the Dutch government will expand the project.

Consijn talked about his dreams for the multi-million euro project which he hopes will boost the Region’s economy. 

“We plan to have fresh fruit and vegetables with a very important label reading ‘This is made in Kurdistan.’ In the Netherlands, you can see a lot of greenhouses like these ones. We can produce a lot of fruit [in the Kurdistan Region] and will export it. This is my dream,” said Consijn.

“It is important for the Kurdistan Region not only to depend on oil, but on agriculture and food production as well,” he added.