German FM to visit Arbil on Wednesday – Kurdish PM

ARBIL / IraqiNews.com: Kurdish Prime Minister Negervan Barzani on Tuesday said that German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier will visit Arbil on Wednesday. “Steinmeier will visit Arbil on Wednesday (Feb. 17) to open the German consulate and to meet a number of Kurdish officials,” Barzani told IraqiNews.com news agency. Like France, Germany was an opponent of the US-led invasion of 2003. Steinmeier was chief of staff to then-chancellor Gerhard Schroeder when the war broke out. It was the first such visit by a German foreign minister since 1987, three years before UN sanctions were slapped on Iraq. He will meet with Iraqi President Jalal Talabani and Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, foreign ministry undersecretary, Labied Abbawi, said. SH (P) 1