Lord C-J promotes Kurdistan/UK tourism

This is a speech I gave at a recent Iraqi-Kurdistan Tourism  Infrastructure Development Conference at the BIS Conference Centre-a Reflection on 10 years of development.

It’s a great pleasure to be involved with an event promoting  Iraqi Kurdistan.I’ve been looking back over developments in the last  10 years now since I first went to the Iraqi Kurdistan region in 2004 and its incredible what progress political, economic and social has been made since then .

As a member of  of the All Party Parliamentary for Iraqi Kurdistan it’s been a pleasure promoting relationships between the Region and the UK.

I made a speech about my visit in the House of Lords shortly after I got back and it is instructive to contrast then and now:

Then I was driven through South Eastern Turkey having flown to Dyarbakir and it was was a relief to arrive at the border with Iraq after so many hours. Now there is a major new  British designed Hawler (Erbil) International Airport with direct flights from all over Europe

Then I complained about the attitude displayed by Turkish soldiers towards Iraqi Kurds at the border with border guards describing my literature about agriculture and education as a “problem” because it mentioned the words “Iraqi Kurdistan” .

Now there are excellent political relationship too between Presidents and PM Barzani and President Gul and PM Erdogan. The PKK issue in Turkey is beginning to be resolved too with a cease fire declared by their leader Abdullah Öcalan and a peace settlement in sight.

Trade between Turkey and Kurdistan flows freely. Turkish companies are the largest direct inward investor in the Region . Turkey is  becoming directly involved in oil and gas exploration in the region

Now thanks to the freetrade approach adopted by the KRG there is huge investment by Turkey itself growing at 6-8%. Kurdistan’s growth rate is reported at 12%. There is a growing consumer economy.

Erbil itself and the other major cities are transformed . New hotels and shopping malls have sprung up in the last 10 years.

There are major Oil and gas developments.  There has been significant exploration and finds from a number of medium sized companies and now oil majors such as ExxonMobil and Chevron.

10 years ago  I noted the progress that had been made in providing universal education at primary and secondary levels in Kurdistan even in the smallest village and in adult education too.  Now Higher Education is flourishing .Education links with Britain are growing stronger by the year symbolized by recent visit from higher education minister David Willets. Recently 21 universities visited to explore ties.

In those days there were two separate government administrations . One run by the KDP and one by the PUK. Now and for some time there is a common democratically elected parliament with regular terms of office for government following elections and the Prime Ministership has rotated between the parties on two occasions. . The government of different parties and faiths continues to be a model of pluralism.

Now we see the maturing of parliamentary opposition too.

I talked then about the absolute need for a British consulate in Erbil.  Now there is vastly better representation of British interests in Kurdistan.  We take the Consulate General  for granted but still await proper premises in downtown Erbil and still have major UK visa frustrations !

Then the British were conspicuous by their absence in helping with the economic development of Kurdistan and building commercial ties. Now particularly in the last three years British companies have begun to get stuck in and we have seen many British companies represented at the major trade fairs. In 2011 at the Erbil Trade Fair there were  89 delegates, including 20 exhibitors, the largest UK trade delegation to the region to date, in fact the largest non Ministerial business delegation to anywhere!

There are something which were true then and I am glad to say have endured throughout the ten years

Then I said that security in the Region in contrast to the rest of Iraq thanks to the continuing presence of the peshmerga was excellent and this fact should be recognised in FCO advice. This has continued to be the case – and the FCO stresses this fact in travel and trade advice. Iraqi-Kurdistan really is an island in a sea of instability.

Then I said  they had built the makings of a religiously tolerant pluralistic democratic society. It was notable that many of the Chaldean Christians retreating from the bombs in Mosul were taking refuge in Iraqi Kurdistan. Now there is a wonderful diversity of culture even more than ever in Kurdistan with a vibrant Christian quarter in Erbil in particular. Now of course the Region is absorbing a whole new set of refugees from Syria. All these elements lay the grounds for a potentially hugely successful tourism industry in Kurdistan which could become not just regional but international in nature.

I have a friend in Kurdistan who is passionate about the preservation of its cultural heritage and get regular updates on developments!

Bayan has mentioned some amazing sites. I’ve only been to a few of them.

Some cities in Kurdistan go back 8000 years to the dawn of civilisation like the UNESCO protected citadel of Erbil.

There is the Assyrian aqueduct -the largest in the world built by Sennecherib in 700 BCE and the site of Alexander the Great’s famous battle against Darius III  the Persian Ruler  at  Gaugamela IN 331 BCE.

There are the extraordinary Yazidi temples at Lalish

There is so much to see.

Now it even appears that the Hanging Gardens were not in Babylon but in Northern Iraq!

Allied to the history -and we must never forget that part of that history are some of the recent tragedies during the Anfall under Saddam Husedsein’s rule and the genocide at Halabja in particular, now recognized as such by Parliament -there-is Kurdistan’s extraordinary scenery -the spectacular Zagros mountains and dramatic waterfalls.

The mountains will be the friends of Kurdish tourism I hope!

Every year the tourism infrastructure in terms of transport links and much better quality hotels and hospitality offer-and shopping!- has improved.

All this will I am sure lead to a huge growth in tourism in Kurdistan. I am a great believer in the power of tourism to generate economic growth and employment  and spend time urging government to do more here to release the potential.

I know the KRG are very aware of the potential importance of tourism to Kurdistan and I am absolutely delighted to help open today’s proceedings and hand over to the Minister who is going to give us all the information we need to encourage investment in tourism and hospitality!