Kurdistan Region President Masoud Barzani welcomed the Czech Republic’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Lubomír Zaorálek, on Thursday. In a meeting in Erbil, the President and the Czech Foreign Minister discussed strengthening bilateral relations and military support by the Czech Republic to Iraq and peshmerga forces fighting terrorism.

Foreign Minister Zaorálek, who was accompanied by his country’s deputy defense minister and other Czech government officials, praised the role of the peshmerga forces in the fight against ISIS terrorists and expressed his country’s readiness to support this effort. He said he country is also keen to enhance economic ties with Kurdistan and to this end plans to upgrade his country’s diplomatic presence in Erbil to a consulate general. He also lauded the KRG for taking in large numbers of refugees and IDPs from other parts of Iraq.

President Barzani thanked the Czech Republic for its support of Kurdistan and warmly welcomed its decision to open its consulate general in Erbil.
The two also discussed threat posed by the ISIS terrorists and the efforts to combat this threat. President Barzani stated that the Kurds are proud to be at the forefront of this fight and standing up to the terrorists along a 1,500-km long front from the city of Kobane in Syria to Diyala province in eastern Iraq.