President Masoud Barzani arrived in the North of Ireland on Tuesday. He met First Minister Peter Robinson, Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness and the Speaker of the Assembly in his first official visit to Belfast which was hosted by Enterprise, Trade and Investment Minister Arlene Foster.
These meetings and those with other ministers and business representatives focused on strengthening ties between the two regions through trade.
Mr Barzani, who is on a two-day visit, is accompanied by Dr Fuad Hussein, the President's chief of Staff, Minister Falah Mustafa, Head of the Department of Foreign Relations, Dr Ali Saeed, Minister of Higher Education, and Bayan Sami Abdul Rahman, the Kurdistan Regional Government's Representative to the UK.
In their meeting, First Minister Peter Robinson, Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness and President Barzani discussed the political situation in Iraq, the Constitution as well as events in Syria and the Middle East in general. They also spoke of the shared troubled history of the people of the North of Ireland and Kurdistan and the drive and determination to live in peace and to build a better future. Mr Robinson and Mr McGuinness said that they recognised the great suffering of the Kurdish people.
President Barzani said, "We have followed the situation in Northern Ireland for some time because we see similarities. I would like to congratulate you and wish you success (following the peace process). Experience has proved that without security, reconstruction and development cannot take place. We have overcome terrible suffering in our history. We would like to learn from your experience and we see areas where we can cooperate. We have started from scratch and we want our friends to help us in a mutually beneficial way."
The First Minister echoed Mr Barzani's sentiment and said he hoped that together they could build a good relationship. The Deputy First Minister told the President and his delegation, "You arrived as strangers but you leave as friends."
President Barzani also met Speaker William Hay who took the Kurdish delegation on a tour of the Stormont parliament building.
Today President Barzani visited the Agri-Food and Biosciences Institute which has signed an MOU with the KRG's Ministry of Agriculture and Water Resources.