High Representative and KRG team attends the Conservative Party Conference in Manchester.
News : 10/9/2023
High Representative, Karwan Jamal
Tahir, and the KRG representation team attended the annual Conservative Party
Conference held in Manchester from 30th September to 4th October 2023.
During the conference, the KRG
representation had a stall in the main exhibition hall, aiming to enhance the
relationship further and promote the Kurdistan Region to delegates regarding
trade and investment opportunities, tourism, and education and the close
bilateral relations with the UK Government and the institutions.
Hundreds of Conservative Party
delegates and fellow exhibitors were able to learn and engage with the
Kurdistan Region and the representation team.
The KRG representation was honoured
by the visit of many MPs, ministers and Secretaries of State, including the
Foreign Secretary, Rt Hon James Cleverly, Securities Minister, Rt Hon Tom
Tugendhat, and FCDO Minister for Development, Rt Hon Andrew Mitchell and
Foreign Affairs Select Committee Chair Alicia Kearns MP.
Further, the KRG UK High
Representative met with many ambassadors, heads of diplomatic missions, and
Lord and MPs, where they discussed the recent developments and the mutual
relations between the governments.
The KRG representation also hosted an
annual friendship reception in the margin of the Conservative Party Conference,
attended by MPs, diplomats and friends of the Kurdistan Region.
High Representative Karwan stated in a
speech, “The relationship between the Kurdistan Region and the UK is constantly
developing and strengthening across the political spectrum, including the
Conservative Party”. He also added, “Though we are a young democracy, the values we believe in and embrace, the
rule of law, freedom of religion and expression, and women’s empowerment, are
those shared values which bring Kurdistan Region closer to the liberal
international community and provide us with excellent scope to continue to
enhance international cooperation in an ever-changing world”.
High representative Karwan
highlighted the cooperation between the KRI and the UK on many levels, i.e.
security judicial cooperation that will further enhance the rule of law, reform
programs, and education in KRI, acknowledging all the work and support that
APPG on Kurdistan Region chaired by Jack Lopristi MP and other group members
have devoted to promoting the Kurdistan Region.
The reception was an opportunity for
friends, old and new, to join the KRG team in celebrating and commemorating
KRI/UK relations, Conservative Party supporters of the Kurdistan Region, and
the Kurdish diaspora in the UK who play an increasingly important role in local
and national UK politics.
At the event, Chair of the APPG for
Kurdistan Region, Jack Lopresti MP, spoke on the continued support of the UK
towards the Kurdistan Region and on the importance of upholding the 2005 Iraqi
Federal Constitution and KRG’s rights within it.
We were fortunate to hear from the
first female of Kurdish descent to have made the approved candidates list for
the Conservative Party, Yasmin Al-Atroshi. She spoke of her pride in her
Kurdish background and what those with Kurdish roots can offer to the UK
through politics.
Manchester
4th October 2023
