During the Kurdistan-Netherlands Economic Forum taking place in the Netherlands on June 9-13, multi-million euro deals were signed between Dutch and Kurdish companies.
“Today, companies signed different contracts in the agriculture, horticulture, machinery, and dairy sectors worth millions of euros,” the Netherlands’ Consul General in Erbil Adriaan IJsselstein said.
“There is already plenty of cooperation between Dutch and Kurdish companies, but certainly a lot of additional potential in the fields of infrastructure, renewable energy, water management, and agriculture.
“This event brings together the best of both worlds: big, well-known Kurdish companies and interesting incentives from Invest Kurdistan, which we can link to the knowledge and expertise in the Netherlands,” he added.
“This is not a one off – we will work hard to organize more economic missions to the Netherlands, and to the Kurdistan Region this year. We can truly create a win-win situation by not only creating revenue for companies from the Kurdistan Region and the Netherlands, but also creating a lot of local jobs and increasing food security.”
Started Today: the Kurdistan Region of Iraq (KRI)-NL Economic Forum.
— Netherlands in Kurdistan Region (@nlinkri) June 9, 2025
✅ >15 of the biggest KRI companies.
✅ Official representatives of NL and KRI, including @begardtalabani and @mohamadshukri74 .
✅ Top Dutch companies and the newest technology.#IncreasingBusiness pic.twitter.com/8ACVU3IFva
The event was organized by the Dutch government, the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) Board of Investment, the KRG Ministry of Agriculture and Water Resources, and the KRG Department of Foreign Relations.
According to a post by Invest Kurdistan on LinkedIn, the Kurdistan-Netherlands Economic Forum will establish new frameworks for economic cooperation, with a strategic focus on agribusiness development, water infrastructure modernization, and clean energy solutions.
The Dutch Consulate General in a post on X said that the forum includes 15 of the biggest companies from the Kurdistan Region, as well as official representatives from the Netherlands and the Kurdistan Region, including KRG Minister of Agriculture and Water Resources Begard Talabani and Chairman Mohammad Shukri of the KRG Board of Investment.
Read More: Dutch Consulate General Brings Together Dairy Farmers from Halabja and Duhok
Ahead of the forum, Consul General IJsselstein met with Chairman Shukri on June 4.
The KRG Board of Investment in a Facebook post said that the goal of the forum is “to strengthen economic ties and encourage Dutch investments in the Kurdistan Region.”
Read More: Dutch Envoy Urges Companies to Invest in Kurdistan
There are strong relations between the Netherlands and the Kurdistan Region, in part due to the 6,000 Dutch Kurds living in the Kurdistan Region.
The Netherlands has advocated for Dutch companies to come and conduct their business in the Kurdistan Region, especially those with a focus on agriculture.
There are also several small and medium-sized collaborative projects that have been created by Kurdish and Dutch companies, including in the dairy and potato industry, in recent years.
