ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — Michal Svoboda, the Czech consul-general to Erbil, told Rudaw on Tuesday that firms in the Czech Republic are primed to develop Prague's commercial relationship with the Kurdistan Region.

"Czech companies are generally ready to come and be part of reconstruction of this region, with the reconstruction projects," the CG told Rudaw.

Prague has long supported the Kurdistan Region with military surplus and humanitarian aid projects. Czech President Milos Zeman has even said he expects the Kurdistan Region to declare its independence from Iraq "sooner or later".

In a recent project in Duhok, the Czech consulate helped establish a bakery run by internally displaced people (IDPs) — using a sustainable business venture to help alleviate hardship.


"There is a tradition and some kind of history of very good relations between Czech Republic and Iraqi Kurdistan in the field of trade and commercial activities. So we're very much hoping with the new government that we could also join the others in helping reconstruct this region and the country," he added.

The consulate has supported health, sanitation, and eduction projects in the region, including the establishment of clinics in the Yezidi homeland of Sinjar - known to Kurds as Shingal.

Shingal remains unstable and lacks basic services after the war with the Islamic State (ISIS) group devastated the area.

Rudaw asked CG Svoboda whether he is optimistic the Yezidi people, brutalised by the war, will ever return to their homeland.

"I think we all must be optimistic because the people should have a right to go back to the places of their origin," Svoboda said.

"I really hope this will come, the Yezidi community and every IDP can come back to their homes to live their lives again, to thrive, and to help develop this country, not only Iraqi Kurdistan but Iraq itself as a whole country."

The Czech consul-general visited Rudaw's Erbil studio on Tuesday to wish Kurds a happy and prosperous Newroz - the Kurdish new year.

Czech dancers and musicians are in Erbil this week to join Newroz festivities and promote cultural exchange between the two nations.

"I believe that culture, arts, and music is the medium, the means of how people can understand each other better. Music does not have any boundaries, does not recognise any language barriers or ethnicities or religious inclinations," Svoboda said.

Rudaw