KRG Oil Export Pipeline "Near Completion"

Bayan Sami Abdul Rahman spoke about the KRG's strategy of prioritising tourism, agriculture and industry in order to avoid over-reliance on the energy sector. She said that the Kurds were now a factor in the shaping of the Middle East, both in terms of energy security and political settlements.

Nadhim Zahawi, the first British member of parliament to be of Kurdish origin, told the meeting that groups like the Kurds could no longer be ignored by those wishing to establish peace in the Middle East. Jane Kinninmont said that the KRG would need to diversify its economy. 'I visited Kurdistan this year and spoke to young students who were keen that oil and gas is not wasted and that the economy doesn't over-rely on it. Economic diversification will be a very important aspect of Kurdistan's future,' she said.

Shwan Zulal described the Kurdistan Region as a viable source of energy to Europe and pointed out that the KRG hoped to have a minerals law in place in the near future, opening a new sector of the Kurdish economy.

While at the conference, which was held in Manchester, Minister Hawrami and Ms Abdul Rahman met several British ministers and MPs, including Alistair Burt, the Minister for the Middle East, Energy Minister Michael Fallon, Sajid Javid, Minister at the Treasury, and Lord Marland, the British Prime Minister's Trade Envoy who recently led a trade delegation to Kurdistan. They also met the Turkish ambassador in Britain, Ünal Çeviköz, who welcomed them to the Conservative Friends of Turkey reception at the party conference.

The KRG UK Representation also attended the annual conferences of the Labour and Liberal Democrat parties in September. The Representation hosted a discussion on Kurdistan at the Labour Party conference with Ian Lucas, Shadow Middle East Minister, the Labour peer Lord Glasman, Faik Nerwayi, the Iraqi Ambassador to the UK, and Gary Kent, director of the APPG on Kurdistan.

(Source: KRG)