The Kurdistan Parliament’s Speaker Dr Vala Farid together with Parliament Secretary Muna Kahveci, welcomed a delegation from the Konrad Adenauer Stiftung political foundation, led by Mr. Gregor Jaecke, Head of its Syria and Iraq office.

The Speaker and Mr. Jaecke discussed the peaceful coexistence between the different ethnic and religious communities in the Kurdistan Region, and the longstanding ties between the Kurdistan Regional Government and the German Federal government. Dr. Farid thanked the people and government of Germany for supporting the Peshmerga forces. “We would like to have a strong relationship with the Bundestag, and we ask Germany to invest in the Kurdistan Region.” she said.

Mr. Jaecke said that they are in the Region to strength Kurdistan-Germany ties, and he announced that a high-level delegation from the Bundestag (federal parliament) and Germany’s government will visit the Kurdistan Region in June.

Konrad Adenauer Stiftung is a think tank and political foundation that promotes liberty, peace and justice. It carries out analysis and civic education, and has many offices in Germany and 80 outside Germany, including several in the Middle East. 

The Speaker informed the delegation about a bill going through parliament currently, to restore the functions of Kurdistan Region’s president and to amend the presidential election system from popular vote to parliamentary vote, until a Kurdistan Region constitution is enacted in the future.

The Speaker also focused on Baghdad-Erbil ties, and Parliament’s hope that the Iraqi cabinet will implement all articles of the Iraqi Constitution, including Article 140. Implementing this article to resolve the status of the disputed territories would protect all the communities in Kirkuk governorate, she said.