On 18/01/2011 H.E. Dr. Ali Sindi, KRG Minister of Planning, received a large delegation of Turkish officials and business people. The delegation was accompanied by the Turkish Consul General in Erbil and representative of the State Planning Agency from the Turkish Prime Minister’s office, the Tigris Development Agency and heads and member of municipal councils from Tigris Region (made of cities of Mardin, Shernak, Siirt and Batman).

The delegation presented a short film and a presentation about the economic and trade conditions in the Tigris Region of Turkey. The delegation stated that the objective of their visit is to gain understanding of the economic situation in Kurdistan and establish an official agreement with the relevant KRG ministries and agencies to further develop the bilateral economic and trade relations.

Finally a decision was made to establish a Joint Working Group between the KRG Ministry of Planning on the one hand and the Turkish Agency for Planning and Tigris Development Agency on the other hand to research the possibility of institutionalization of the KRG-Turkey trade and economic relations.