Kurdistan Region President Masoud Barzani arrived in Germany today to hold meetings with Chancellor Angela Merkel, the German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier, and other senior officials.

Foreign Minister Steinmeier visited the Kurdistan Region last month to open the Consulate General in the capital, Erbil. President Barzani is on the second stage of his European tour. Earlier this week in Rome, he met Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi and His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI.

President Barzani has been active in pursuing stronger relationships with the international community, recently completing a trip to Qatar and Kuwait. He will continue his European tour with a visit the United Kingdom. He said, “The Kurdistan Region has much to gain from developing friendships with European nations in a wide variety of fields and economic sectors, and I look forward to a closer partnership with countries such as Italy.”

Prime Minister Berlusconi and President Barzani discussed a number of issues, focusing on opportunities for mutually beneficial economic cooperation and the improved relations between the Kurdistan Region and neighbouring states.

Pope Benedict praised the Kurdistan Region’s commitment to tolerance and peaceful coexistence. President Barzani extended to the Pope an invitation to visit the Region. President Barzani was accompanied by his Chief of Staff, Dr Fuad Hussein; Kurdistan Regional Government Minister for Finance Mr Sarkis Aghajan, who in 2006 was knighted by Pope Benedict for his services to the Christian community in Iraq; and Iraq’s Ambassador to the Vatican.