Iran’s Center of Commerce and House of Innovation and Technology inaugurated in Sulaymaniyah

Iran’s Center of Commerce and House of Innovation and Technology was launched in Sulaymaniyah before noon on Tuesday, July 5, 2022, in a ceremony attended by Iranian and Iraqi Kurdish officials as well as representatives of the private sectors of the two sides.

Mehdi Qal-e-noi, the head of the International Cooperation at the Islamic Republic of Iran’s Vice Presidency for Science and Technology, Iranian Consul General in Sulaymaniyah Mehdi Shushtari, Sulaymaniyah Governor Hawal Abubakr, Dean of Sulaymaniyah Polytechnic University Hoshyar Abdullah Aziz, the representative of Kurdistan Region’s minister of higher graduation and scientific research, governors of Sulaymaniyah and Halabja, the dean of Sulaymaniyah University, a number of director generals from governmental organizations in Sulaymaniyah, the chief of the exporters and importers’ union of Kurdistan Region, the deputy chiefs of chambers of commerce and industries of Sulaymaniyah and Halabja, and a number of merchants and businessmen were present at the inauguration ceremony.

During the event, which received widespread coverage by the media of Kurdistan Region, Iranian Consul General in Sulaymaniyah Mehdi Shushtari expressed hope that the establishment of the center, which has two commercial and scientific and technological dimensions, would play a significant role in the development of business and commerce ties as well as scientific and university relations between the Islamic Republic of Iran and Kurdistan Region, especially Sulaymaniyah.

Sulaymaniyah Governor Hawal Abubakr and Hoshyar Abdullah Aziz, the representative of Kurdistan Region’s minister of higher graduation and scientific research, in separate speeches referred to the deep political, cultural, social, economic, and commerce ties between the Islamic Republic of Iran and Sulaymaniyah.

They welcomed the presence of Iranian knowledge-based companies in Sulaymaniyah, and heralded it as the beginning of the development of scientific, university, and technological relations between the two sides.

Mehdi Qal-e-noi, the head of the International Cooperation at the Islamic Republic of Iran’s Vice Presidency for Science and Technology, in a speech explained the Islamic Republic of Iran’s capabilities in the field of knowledge-based economy and said Iran’s Center of Commerce and House of Innovation and Technology in Sulaymaniyah was the sixth such a center outside of the country (after Kenya, China, Russia, Turkey, and Syria) and expressed the Islamic Republic of Iran’s full readiness to transfer technological know-how and advanced technology in different fields to Iraq and Kurdistan Region.

After the inauguration ceremony, attendees visited the different sites of the center, including the conference hall, shared workplace, the offices of Iranian knowledge-based firms, and a room where a number of products by Iranian knowledge-based firms, including full equipment for surgery rooms, were on display.