Well-known Turkish discount retailer Kaliteli İndirim Marketleri (KİM) is planning to open two stores in northern Iraq's Kurdistan Region, in its first investment abroad, according to a top executive.

“We have met all the necessary official requirements and inked deals in January. We will inaugurate two supermarkets in Erbil in May,” Hamit Akçay, general manager of KİM, was quoted as saying by the Turkish media, adding that another supermarket will be opened in Iraq this year.

The discount retailer plans to open stores in other Iraqi cities including Sulaimaniyah, Basra, Mosul and Baghdad, according to Akçay. In the long term 10 stores will be opened per year in Turkey’s southern neighbor and the turnover target for 2012 in Iraq is $25 million, he said.

“The first of the stores will be inside a shopping center called Royal Mall, located on one of the most busy avenues. We will open a 2,500 square meter of a supermarket in the shopping center. Our second store will be across Erbil Citadel, which is the historical centre of the city.”

Currently, the largest foreign hypermarket chains in Iraqi Kurdistan are Kuwait's City Center and the recently opened French Carrefour -- both planning major expansions in Kurdistan Region and Iraq.