Baroness Emma Nicholson of Winterbourne, UK Trade Envoy for Iraq and Iraq Britain Business Council’s (IBBC) Chairman, highlighted on Tuesday the fact that “despite the heavy competition from major industrial countries such as Turkey, China and South Korea there are plenty of contracts and good partnerships being forged by British companies in the Iraq’s Kurdistan Region. Many IBBC members are highly active in the area”.

The comments came after the Baroness welcomed the publication of the Foreign Affairs Committee report which mentioned that the UK must reinforce its diplomatic presence in the Iraq’s Kurdistan Region to help counter Islamist extremism.

Baroness Nicholson will be leading the third business delegation in four months to Erbil with ministerial and high level trade and industry meetings. A joint Conference organised by the Kurdistan Federation of Chambers of Commerce and Industry and the IBBC, in cooperation with the Federation of Iraqi Chambers of Commerce, will take place in early March and will include attendants and speakers from British companies.