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    Categories: 2021

Armenia, Kurdistan Region to cooperate in fields of technology, education

Rudaw, Kurdistan Province, Iraq
Khazan Jangiz

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region  — Armenia and the Kurdistan Region are developing ties in the fields of technology and education, the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) has said as the Region’s Deputy Prime Minister Qubad Talabani meets with officials in Yerevan.

A “preliminary agreement” was made between Yerevan and Erbil to bring Armenian companies to the Kurdistan Region “to teach youth aged 10-18 computer and IT skills,” read a KRG statement released on Friday.

The deputy PM met with a delegation of IT companies and senior officials including Armenian Deputy Prime Minister Mher Grigoryan, and Minister of Industry and Technology Hayk Chobanyan,  where they “decided on creating joint teams between the Kurdistan Region and Armenia to share Armenia’s experience with the Region in the fields of e-government and IT.”

The two sides also discussed “joint projects” between the polytechnic universities in the Kurdistan Region and Armenia.

Talabani is in Yervan for a three-day visit at the invitation of the Armenian government, accompanied by Minister of Planning Dara Rashid, and head of Council of Ministers’ office, Omed Sabah.

On Saturday, the second day of his trip, Talabani met with Armenian Foreign Minister Ara Aivazian to discuss initiating “direct flights between the Kurdistan Region and the Armenian Republic which are supposed to begin next month,” Talabani's spokesperson Samir Hawrami told Rudaw.

"“The two sides agreed on the importance of establishing trade ties and facilitating the issuance of visas and benefiting from Armenia's experience in the field of energy in the Kurdistan Region," he added. 

Armenia opened a consulate and cultural center in the Kurdistan Region capital of Erbil in a ceremony in February. 

"Armenians have settled in this country at various stages of history, including in Iraqi Kurdistan, and have received exceptionally friendly treatment from the authorities,” Armenia’s Deputy Foreign Minister Artak Apitonyan said at the time.

More than 2,000 Armenians currently live in the Kurdistan Region, Yerwant Nisan, an Armenian community leader, and a former MP in the Kurdistan Regional Parliament told Rudaw in January.

 
Emil Lazarian: “I should like to see any power of the world destroy this race, this small tribe of unimportant people, whose wars have all been fought and lost, whose structures have crumbled, literature is unread, music is unheard, and prayers are no more answered. Go ahead, destroy Armenia . See if you can do it. Send them into the desert without bread or water. Burn their homes and churches. Then see if they will not laugh, sing and pray again. For when two of them meet anywhere in the world, see if they will not create a New Armenia.” - WS