The United States inaugurated a new mega consulate on Wednesday in Erbil, the capital of the autonomous Kurdistan region in northern Iraq.
Kurdish authorities enjoy strong ties with the US, which led the 2003 invasion that toppled longtime Iraqi ruler Saddam Hussein, who had persecuted the Kurds.
The US has had a consulate in Erbil since 2011, but the new, larger complex spans 50 acres.
The project “is a physical symbol of America’s long-term partnership with Iraq and the Iraqi Kurdistan Region”, Michael J. Rigas, US deputy secretary of state for management and resources, said at the opening.
Kurdistan presents itself as a relative oasis of stability in Iraq, which has seen decades of turmoil but has recently regained a sense of normalcy.
Rigas said Washington saw “the Iraqi Kurdistan Region as a dynamic entry point to Iraq’s markets for American companies”.
Many US companies are already heavily invested in Iraq, including in Kurdistan, and oil giant ExxonMobil has recently returned to the country after a two-year absence.
But in recent months, Kurdistan has seen a spate of drone attacks targeting mostly its gas and oil fields, with Riga urging local authorities to dismantle the Iran-aligned militias blamed for the strikes.
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© Agence France-Presse
