Kurdish-Czech trade deal soon – source

SULAIMANIYA / IraqiNews.com: The next couple of days will see the signing of a trade cooperation agreement between the Kurdistan and Czech federations of chambers of comers, according to a Kurdish official. “A trade delegation from the Czech Republic will be visiting Kurdistan region on October 14 to sign a memo of understanding between the two federations,” Hussein Baqi Hourami, the first vice-president of the Iraqi Kurdistan region’s chambers of commerce, told IraqiNews.com. Hourami, who also heads the Sulaimaniya Chamber of Commerce & Industry, revealed a program to “set up a Kurdish-Czech joint committee to enhance economic relations between the two sides”. He added that the committee’s work should focus on trade and investment data to brief the Czech companies on the economic climate in the Kurdistan region. “In accordance with the agreement, residence and banking facilities would be offered for the Czech companies to work in the region through accurate data on the Kurdistan economic conditions and viable spheres of investment,” Hourami noted. He said that so far the Czech companies did not contribute soundly to the investment domain in the Iraqi Kurdistan region although some of them participated in the 3 rd international fair hosted in Sulaimaniya in November 2007. The modern city of Sulaimaniya , 364 kilometers north of the Iraqi capital Baghdad , was founded in 1748 by a Kurdish prince known as Ibrahim Pasha Baban who named it for his father Sulaiman Pasha. Since being founded as the capital of a powerful Kurdish principality it has grown to about 1,800,000 people. Sulaimaniya, known as Zamwa prior to its founding, is the cultural center of the Sorani-speaking Kurds and an important economic centre for Iraqi Kurdistan. AmR (S) 1