Iran says cancelled visas for Iraqi Kurdistan Region’s people

Shahryar Heidari, the chairman of the Borders Committee of the National Security and Foreign Policy Commission of the Iranian parliament, Along with Mehdi Safari, Deputy Forign Minister for Economic Diplomacy, and Ali Fakhri, Deputy Minister of Economy and General Director of Iran’s Investment and Economic and Technical Assistance Organization traveled to the Kurdistan Region of Iraq, and on the first day of their trip, they met with the Chamber of Commerce of the 4 border provinces of Iraqi Kurdistan.

In their meeting with the KRG officials, the Iranian delegation discussed investment obstacles to bilateral trade, according to the Iranian lawmaker.

Explaining to reporters about the visit of the Iranian delegation to Erbil, Heidari stated, “During this trip, which started last week, we had various meetings with the heads of the private sector and the chamber of commerce of 4 Kurdish provinces, including Erbil, Dohuk, and Sulaymaniyah and [Halabcha]. The officials of the Chamber of Commerce expressed their problems and demanded the development of economic and trade relations with Iran.”

“In the meeting, in particular, the Tilaco border in Sarpul Zahab, the formalization of the borders of Sheikh Sleh and Shushmi in Kermanshah Province, Kileh in West Azerbaijan and the shared borders located in Kordestan Province, as well as the development of economic relations between Iran and the Kurdistan Region, and the KRG’s investment in free zones were discussed, the lawmaker said, adding “The new Qasr Shirin, which will start operating in the near future, was also emphasized.”

He went on to explain more that “In the continuation of the meetings, we met and talked with the deputy of the Iraqi Kurdistan Parliament. We also had a meeting with the KRG Prime Minister,  the Ministers of Foreign Affairs, Internal Affairs and Economy and several advisors of the Kurdistan Region were also present in this meeting and we talked about important border issues, the opening of new border crossings, transit, border markets and also economic issues. . It was decided to form delegations from both sides and have meetings with each other in the near future.”

Referring to the meetings held during this several-day trip, Heidari said, “the topics most discussed in these meetings were border issues, stable border security, development of economic relations, the opening of new border crossings, and passenger travel.”