Germany to Open Consulate-General in Kurdish Part of Iraq
July 22, 2008
Officials in Berlin made the announcement on Monday, July 22, a day before Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki begins talks in the German capital.
Germany already has a small office in Arbil. A consulate-general is a full-scale mission outside a nation's capital. The mission would open at the start of 2009 once security issues had been settled, the foreign ministry said.
Boosting trade
Al-Maliki was set to meet on Tuesday in Berlin with Chancellor Angela Merkel to press for more German investment in and trade with Iraq. German businesses are already operating in the relatively calm north.
Aides said Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier set out the plans in a phone call Monday to his Iraqi counterpart, Hoshiar Sibari.
Arbil is capital of a predominantly Kurdish province also called Arbil.
Germany's embassy in the capital Baghdad has been hampered by its location outside the most secure, US-guarded part of the city.