This month the KRG Representation in Washington DC was honored to host the Governors of Erbil and Slemani, who visited the United States to further community ties between Kurdistan and America.

Omed Khoshnaw, the Governor of Erbil, and a large delegation of officials from the city and province of Erbil visited Nashville, Tennessee, to discuss establishing a sister-city partnership with the American city known for music and for its Kurdish diaspora.

The delegation met with the Nashville Sister City Board to discuss fields of cooperation between Erbil and Nashville, which sectors of the economy could work together and areas of cultural exchange that would benefit their communities. The visit was strongly supported by the Kurdish community in Nashville, the KRG Representation, the US Consulate General in Erbil and the Kurdish-American Cultural Institute.

The Governor also visited Washington DC where he met with members of Congress, US officials at the State Department and USAID, the United States Institute of Peace and the US Kurdistan Business Council.

Erbil city has come under ballistic-missile attack from Iran and has been targeted by some militia groups within Iraq. Governor Khoshnaw reiterated the KRG’s commitment to peace within Iraq and with its neighbors and called for support for Iraqi sovereignty.

Haval Abubaker, Governor of Slemani, visited Washington at the invitation of the Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors (TAPS) to participate in the NGO’s annual camp and workshop for bereaved families of fallen American soldiers. TAPS founder Bonnie Carroll and several American families visited Slemani and Erbil in November last year, where they met with Kurdish military Peshmerga families, KRG officials and NGOs.

Slemani is Kurdistan’s cultural capital and has been designated by UNESCO as a city of literature.

The tours by the Governors of Slemani and Erbil in America followed a visit by the Governor of Duhok in April. Duhok has a sister city partnership with Gainesville, Florida. The Kurdistan Region and the United States enjoy a strong partnership which we wish to translate into deeper cultural and economic ties.

In many of the meetings between Kurdish and American officials, concern about tensions between Erbil and Baghdad is raised. President Nechirvan Barzani this month welcomed the extension of the UN Assistance Mission for Iraq’s mandate and its support for ‘Erbil and Baghdad to work together and engage in regular and structured dialogue in order to resolve outstanding issues, in a manner consistent with the unity of Iraq and its constitution, including security provisions, budgetary arrangements and the management of Iraq’s oil and gas resources.’

We hope that this effort by the United Nations will help ease pressure from fellow Iraqis on the Kurdistan Region’s institutions, public and leadership.

There is also hope that the two leading Kurdish parties, the Kurdistan Democratic Party and Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, will come closer to a more unified position.

Here in the United States, our Mission has continued its outreach to Congress and engagement with the diaspora in Nashville, the Washington DC area and Michigan.

This month, our Kurdistan in America podcast is honored to have Dr Adhid Miri as its special guest. Dr Miri is a Chaldean American who has been active in business, academia and in serving his community. In the podcast, he outlines the cares, concerns and achievements of the Chaldeans who began their migration to America about a hundred years ago.

As a diaspora community and KRG Representation, we were deeply saddened by recent mass shootings in Buffalo, New York, and Uvalde, Texas. The killings are shocking and our condolences go to the families and communities affected by these tragedies and to all the people of America.

Marianna Charountaki and Daniela Irrera discuss the book "Mapping Non-State Actors in International Relations." They are joined by author Sterling Jensen as well as Bayan Sami Abdul Rahman, the Kurdistan Regional Government Representative to the United States. Professor Elizabeth Thompson, from the American University in Washington DC, moderates the discussion.