Today, Monday, the Prime Minister of the Kurdistan Regional Government, Masrour Barzani, delivered a speech at the main session of the World Government Summit in Dubai, in which he called for respecting the right of self-determination of peoples, and allowing the Kurdish people to shape their own future.
Barzani stressed the importance of political stability, security, economic prosperity, and combating climate change, describing these areas as “essential pillars for building a better future for the region.” He also urged cooperation to achieve progress, and stressed that achieving stability begins with recognizing the rights of all peoples.
In his speech, Barzani also addressed the geopolitical issues in the region, including the Palestinian issue, and the crises in Iraq and Syria, calling for finding just and lasting solutions to these problems and ending their procrastination and ignoring them to avoid their escalation. He also touched on other important files.
Below is the text of the speech:
Your Highnesses, Excellencies and Excellencies
Organizers of the World Government Summit
Honorable guests,
Good day everyone.
I am pleased to deliver my speech before you today at the opening of this gathering, which includes an elite group of global thinkers and leaders. I am pleased to return to Dubai to attend this year’s summit, and I would also like to express my thanks and appreciation to His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan and His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum for bringing together harmonious minds, dedicated to serving society and humanity by employing the best that we can offer as makers. resolution.
It is an opportunity to exchange ideas and explore new horizons for working differently, in an effort to test our capabilities and improve them for the better. This represents a challenge that we must all address.
I address you today in my capacity as Prime Minister of the Kurdistan Region of Iraq, a region that has managed over the past two decades to build and consolidate itself from among the rubble of the former Iraq. However, I am also speaking to you as someone who stands alongside decision makers in our beloved region who face many of the same challenges.
We have all become accustomed, in one way or another, to living under tensions, unrest, and many crises that have required wise management over the past decades, to say the least. Wars, rebellions, difficulties, and economic instability have unfortunately become part of our makeup. The consequences of these challenges on social and economic development cannot be overlooked.
But in my consultations with stakeholders in the Middle East and beyond, I sensed a will to liberate ourselves from the tragedies of our common past. Throughout our region, there is a determination to be open to progress, and the realization that change is not only inevitable, but necessary.
Peoples aspire to their right to self-determination on the individual and collective levels. Self-determination is a fundamental drive of human nature, and we need to provide an environment that enables citizens to live comfortably.
I believe there are four pillars to achieving the progress we all seek: Political stability, security, economic prosperity, and combating climate change. These issues are intertwined, but addressing them also requires a specific approach to each.
There is no doubt that many geopolitical issues in our region have been relegated to the sticky basket for too long. But why do we keep ignoring it? Having the courage to admit that there is a problem is the first step towards solving it.
The crisis we are witnessing in Palestine is deeply troubling to many of us for many reasons: its heavy humanitarian toll on civilians, its potential to fuel chaos outside Gaza, as well as its failure to address the root causes of injustice. If the basic rights of the Palestinians had been dealt with 80 years ago, or in the decades that followed, we would not have reached this tragic stage that we are witnessing today. Instead, the issue was left to fester, while stakeholders took advantage of the vacuum to impose their conflicting agendas.
The same can be said about the plight of the Kurdish people. We also have legitimate demands for self-determination. These rights are recognized by our friends and allies, but at the same time they tell us that political imperatives prevent them from helping achieve historical justice.
We are asked to acquiesce to injustice, while injustice, along with inequality, poverty and corruption, fuel political instability. In order for citizens, communities and other parties in society to show their loyalty in the way that is expected of them, they must feel that they are receiving a measure of natural justice. They must be allowed to shape their future on their own terms. No one should be afraid to respect the rights of nations, or in our case, the rights of people. Respecting these rights enhances stability and achieves prosperity.
On the security front, we need to do more to address our collective security. Our cooperation as a region to defeat the scourge of ISIS has been a role model on how to achieve goals, and how people of like minds can work side by side. With the escalation of tensions in Gaza, Iraq, Syria and the Red Sea, it has become necessary to develop a new plan to protect national, regional and global interests.
Everyone who seeks wars to achieve their interests by threatening regional security must be held accountable.
The international community cannot tolerate sources of threats, even if they conflict with private interests. At the regional level, we are paying a heavy price for our positions. The region is now facing crises in various forms, which requires us to work collectively to protect regional security and stability. In our case, we were subjected to unjustified targeting. This aggression must end. As I have said repeatedly, here, and in other capitals, Kurdistan has never been a threat to anyone in the region. We are an agent of peace and stability, and we want regional behavior to be based on mutual respect and common interests.
We expect support and need to work together to ward off serious security risks that would undermine everything we have achieved.
Let this be a historic moment in which leaders everywhere can say enough is enough. We need lasting solutions to resolve clearly identified problems.
We have stood with our allies during the ISIS plague. It was the right thing to do, and if we had not done so, the region would now be a completely different place, one filled with global terrorists who have consolidated their foothold in the heart of the Middle East, spreading chaos among us at will.
But we won. The struggles of the past twenty years, and the decades of Kurdish resistance that paved the way for them, have consolidated our legitimate right as a sovereign people and an integral part of the Middle East.
Placing our economy on a solid foundation has been the foundation of what we have achieved in Kurdistan, and economic development more broadly is vital to regional growth and stability.
The well-being of the people must be a top priority for leaders, and continued investment in human resources. Good governance practices are critical to advancing our societies and political cultures, and it is our duty to meet citizens’ expectations. Prosperity and development create employment opportunities, which fuels hope and ambition. If we are able to provide an economic and political environment that reduces poverty and corruption, we will thus reduce the chances of the spread of extremism and strengthen the foundations of political and security stability.
I can say with complete confidence that there is a collective will to confront one of the biggest challenges facing us, which is climate change, by adopting a new approach that is different from what is existing. The UAE’s successful hosting of the COP28 climate summit last year resulted in a firm pledge to change the course of global warming before it casts its devastating shadow on our planet forever.
The challenge facing us requires firm decisions to diversify energy sources and invest in renewable energy sources.
The UAE is one of the global pioneers in such modern technology. Both Dubai and Erbil lie at the core of a warming planet, and we are fully aware of the grave risks of ignoring this catastrophic reality.
Many of the commitments made to date face conflicts with short-term economic interests. But it is taken to preserve the future of future generations. There is no doubt that switching to clean energy sources may be costly in the short term, but its benefits in the long term are endless.
We must have courage, frankness, and a sense of responsibility to make such difficult decisions. If we fail to do so, the part of the world we live in will become an unbearable furnace for the rest of our lives. Large areas of land will become uninhabitable, water sources will dry up, and food security will pose a major challenge. These factors can lead to desertification, mass migration and economic collapse.
After that, we will witness internal and international migrations and demographic changes. Competition over scarce resources will push people into conflict, which will exacerbate an international problem with multiple dimensions. Mass migration will require each country to deal with economic, political, cultural and security challenges.
Leadership with a clear purpose has become more necessary than ever. We must encourage and reward principled leaders, both from current global decision-makers and from future generations. We must clearly distinguish between those who support progress and modernity and those who intend to hinder us.
Ladies and gentlemen, together, we can mobilize to confront the challenges that hinder our progress. Looking to the future is not always easy for leaders, but our responsibility requires it. We owe it to those who have placed their trust in us.
Thank you all very much for being here today, and I hope that this conference will be a forum for creative ideas.
