The Ambassador of the United States in Iraq and the US general consul in Erbil visited Sulaimani and met with Sulaymani’s head of Chamber of Commerce and Industry, businessmen and investors in Sulaymaniyah.
Sirwan Muhammed, head of Chamber of Commerce and Industry and businessmen and investors of Sulaymaniyah met with Robert Paldino, American general consul in Erbil and Matthew H. Tueller U.S. ambassador in Baghdad and Seth Patch, head of economic unit at theUS general consulate in Erbil. The meeting began with the US general consulate stating “we want to strengthen ties, solve problems, and promote cooperation with the Sulaymaniyah chamber of commerce.
Sirwan Muhammed head with of Chamber of Commerce and Industry stated: “due to its geographic proximity to Iran, the city of Sulaymaniyah conducts most of its business with the Islamic Republic of Iran across many fields, but the city has trade ties with European countries and the United States as well”
He added “the city of Sulaymaniyah has been able to stop the import of many goods, especially concrete. The city is able to provide concrete for all of Iraq and the city looks to export beyond Iraq and establish mega factories”
The head of chamber of commerce further stated “ the union of chamber of commerce of Iraqi Kurdistan has signed a partnership protocol with American chambers of commerce but the partnership has not been realized to its full extent and American companies have not come to our region to conduct business with local companies. And, American banks have not moved to Iraqi Kurdistan to open their clients here to help business in Sulaymaniyah to promote domestic production and its export to the rest of Iraq.
The head of chamber of commerce confirmed that American chambers of commerce have visited Sulaymaniyah and have agreed for our companies to visit the U.S. and participate in industrial forums. We ask our partners to work on this partnership.
Sirwan Muhammed also said “ the city of Sulaymaniyah is building the largest general store in Iraq. The project will employ five thousand people and will make Sulaymaniyah a center of commerce and a gate for cooperation with the rest of Iraq. The store project is composed of 586 modern stores with different areas and it is built on 247 acres of land. 95% of the project is built.
Regarding the decree by Iraqi supreme council “the decree will negatively impact commercial and economic activities in Iraqi Kurdistan, any form of conflict between different political powers in Iraqi Kurdistan will result in slowing down commercial and industrial activity across all sectors”
Robert Paldino, American general consul in Erbil mentioned that building a large consulate in Erbil shows our support for the economic sector in Iraqi Kurdistan, now we work on introducing Iraqi Kurdistan to American companies.
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