France... The Governor of Erbil meets with the Mayor of Paris

On Wednesday, April 26, 2023, Omed Khoshnaw, Governor of Erbil, visited  Paris Municipality and was received by the Mayor of Paris, Anne Hidalgo, as part of his visit to participate in the International Association of Francophone Mayors (AIMF) conference, which will be held in Paris, France, with the participation of more than (300) governors and mayors from around the world.

During the meeting, the governor of Erbil extended the gratitude of Prime Minister Masrour Barzani and the people of Kurdistan for the region's ongoing assistance from the French people. He also expressed gratitude to the city of Paris, as it is a twin with Erbil. He commended France for its long history of assisting the Kurdish people in tough times, particularly in the fight against ISIS.

He emphasized the importance of boosting connections between Erbil and Paris and officially invited the Mayor of Paris to visit Erbil, the capital of the Kurdistan Region, and the two sides agreed to implement the Erbil-Paris twinning memorandum of understanding.

Another meeting topic was the governor of Erbil's call for the opening of a direct line between Erbil and Paris airports in order to improve trade exchange and communication, as well as strengthening and developing relations between Salahaddin University and Paris universities, and giving more attention to French schools in Erbil's capital.

The Governor of Erbil also thanked the Mayor of Paris for officially inviting the Kurdistan Regional Government and the Erbil Governorate to participate in the 2024 Olympics, which will be held in Paris, France, emphasizing the importance of environmental preservation and the effects of climate change. He urged the Kurdistan Region in general, and Erbil in particular, to benefit from the skills and expertise of French experts in recycling and environmental protection projects.

The Mayor of Paris, for her part, expressed her delight at the Governor of Erbil's visit, stating that Kurdistan holds a special place in the hearts of the French, and expressed her country's appreciation for President Barzani and the Peshmerga forces' role in fighting and defeating ISIS, as they fought for humanity and on behalf of the entire world.

At the conclusion of the meeting, the Governor of Erbil presented the Mayor of Paris with a gift from the Governorate of Erbil. In turn, the Mayor of Paris presented the Governor of Erbil with a gift from the Municipality of Paris.