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Outgoing Prime Minister Barzani: 'I look to the future with optimism'

WED, 28 OCT 2009 15:52 | KRG.org

Farwell speech by Outgoing KRG Prime Minister Nechirvan Barzani
On conclusion of the term of the Fifth Cabinet
Televised in Erbil, Kurdistan Region of Iraq, 27 October 2009

Dear citizens,

Dear Kurdistanis,

Good evening to you all.

Upon the conclusion of the term of the fifth Cabinet of the Kurdistan Regional Government and the completion of my duties, I address you tonight for the last time as the Prime Minister of the Kurdistan Region.

I want to convey my message to you and to all Kurdistanis.

All of you are aware that tomorrow I am going to relinquish this post, and my dear brother and friend Dr. Barham will be sworn in as the new Prime Minister of the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG). This transition marks an important development in the character of our people and the level of maturity of our leaders as we guarantee a peaceful transition of power.

Over the past few years, Dr. Barham has served as the Deputy Prime Minister of Iraq. And I am sure that in this new post he will do his best to serve our people. I am hereby pledging my full support to him and I am sure that you will support him as well.

As I am leaving my post, I look to the future with optimism. And I say: this is the beginning of the establishment of a bright and hopeful future. I draw this optimism from my experiences working in the government since 1996, beginning as Deputy Prime Minister. After that, I served as the Prime Minister of the fourth Cabinet of the Kurdistan Regional Government, and in 2006 as the Prime Minister of the fifth Cabinet.

Over this period of time, this has been a positive learning experience, and I am glad that with the support of my colleagues in government and in parliament, particularly the support of H.E. President Barzani, and the democratic movement of our people, that we have all managed to achieve moral and material progress:

We have restored security and stability to our beloved Kurdistan, and established the foundation for civil life.

We have instilled trust and confidence in our government, which for the first time in the history of Kurdistan, has established legislative, executive, and judicial self-governance.

We have proudly participated in overcoming internal conflicts, reuniting the two KRG administrations and establishing a basis for governance, benefiting from the science, technology and experience of other nations.

We established a foundation for self-rule within the Iraqi Constitution in order to extract and export oil and gas. I am sure that in the future, the importance of this framework will be clear.

Dear citizens,

If in the past my official duties prevented me from paying attention to social, political and family duties, from now on I will have time to conduct other social and political tasks that are just as important and necessary, as they are complementary.

During the period when I was Prime Minister, with the help of the people of Kurdistan, the entire cabinet and KRG officials, we managed to attain important achievements for our people, and to serve our people in the best manner possible. However, there are still dangers and challenges ahead.

We are proud that over the past three years we were able – through the fifth KRG Cabinet – to guarantee the following: to reunite the administrations, ensure security and stability, develop relations with foreign countries, improve the livelihood of our people, provide services to the people and export oil.

We established programmes to tackle the issue of housing in the Region, and we managed to reactivate the Agricultural Bank to support development in the agricultural field. And we also established the micro credit programmes to give small loans to people.

With the efforts of the KRG, the economic infrastructure of the Kurdistan Region has witnessed unprecedented growth, commercial activity is flourishing, and oil companies with which we have signed contracts convey to us the positive news regarding the establishment of the oil industry in the Kurdistan Region.

Although we have attained these important achievements, we still have challenges ahead of us, including many issues between the Kurdistan Region and Iraq that remain outstanding. We must all work together so that our position in the Kurdistan Region is strengthened in regard to national strategic issues which are important to our future. We must have a clear vision and a unified stance on these issues.

Regarding internal politics, we have been able to create political stability, and to a great degree provide a conducive atmosphere for the lives of people and help them progress. We have paid attention to our society. We also managed to guarantee the supremacy of the rule of law, respect for human rights, democracy and the freedom of the individual to a great extent.

Socially, we tried to reorganise the Kurdistani family, uphold the beautiful norms and habits of our society, empower women and achieve equality among all components of society.

When I first assumed office, I felt a tremendous responsibility on my shoulders. At the same time, my colleagues and I were steadfast to the task at hand.

I remember the outset of the first cabinet very well. I pledged that this government would spare no effort in delivering a better life to the citizens of the Kurdistan Region.

We have been inspired by the strength of our forefathers, who struggled and sacrificed so that we might live in freedom. It has been my honour and privilege to serve the Kurdistan Region with this objective.

The first unified KRG Cabinet was formed in May 2006. In the first cabinet meeting, I looked at the faces of the members of the cabinet and I could see that, because of past experiences, they still did not trust each other fully.

My first task at that time was to try to create trust and overcome the differences in order to establish an effective and efficient cabinet.

In order to reorganise Kurdistani society and strengthen our stance in the domestic and foreign circles, we as the people of Kurdistan put aside our historical differences and focused on the needs of the people, because the spirit of patriotism and the interests of the people were in our hearts. That is why, in the end, all of us managed to work together with a spirit of self-confidence and mutual trust. There is no doubt that the next cabinet will benefit greatly from the camaraderie, sense of mission, and unity of purpose that was developed in the fifth Cabinet.

Today it is important that we identify some of the problems of that time. At the beginning of our duty, we had a lot of shortcomings. We did not have a trained civil service in essential fields, and we did not have a proper or stable budget.

We had to establish a government and develop the potential of our citizens. I asked you to work with the government. Many of the professionals, experts and qualified people today working in the fields of construction, technology and administration were at that time ordinary citizens. But later they were provided with opportunities to participate and to serve their own people.

If we look back and remember, we will recall what the situation in the past was and how it has changed. These changes were not coincidental. What we have achieved today was accomplished through hard work. In the stages of development and progress we, as the government, are not the only ones who are proud of this success. Many of the achievements we have accomplished came from the hands of our dear people of Kurdistan. Yes you, dear people of Kurdistan, supported the government’s initiatives for progress, and you deserve much of the credit.

We have made meaningful changes for the quality of life of the people of the Kurdistan Region. If we look into the number of projects to improve the roads, water and irrigation, education, electricity, health and housing, we can see that these have progressed considerably. Job opportunities have been provided as much as possible; some people who had lost hope day after day are now looking to the future with optimism.

No task has been more important than maintaining peace and security for our people; protecting the lives and well-being of our people was one of our major responsibilities. When Iraq unfortunately descended into violence, terrorism and bloodshed, our Region was fortunate to be an example of stability and a bright experience for peace, brotherhood, and peaceful coexistence, and it should remain like this.

We were able to accomplish this due to our traditions of respect and tolerance, and the hard work and exerted efforts of the Peshmerga, security forces, police, emergency forces, as well as the law enforcement institutions.

When the Peshmerga were in the mountains, they were defending the rights and the very existence of our people. Now that they are in our cities, they have been a major factor in protecting peace and stability for our people. Today as a modern and effective force, the duty of the Peshmerga is to guarantee this peace. Without their struggle, sacrifices and hard work, none of our achievements would have been possible.

Of course, like you, I also would like to witness more progress and better service to be provided. I also wish to have a government open to citizens’ demands and responsive to current issues. But if we consider the obstacles and challenges that we have faced, I believe the fifth Cabinet has achieved admirable results, we have laid a strong foundation upon which to build a bright and prosperous future.

We established ourselves as a peaceful and stable region as part of a Federal Iraq. While we face many challenges, we have been able to establish a legal and sound constitutional framework for protecting the interests of the Kurdistan Region, as well as working towards resolving the issue of the disputed territories.

We have laid a solid foundation of an educational system, which will result in educating and raising future generations, so that they will play productive and important roles in the years to come. We believe that this effort towards education, to fulfill our children’s wishes and meet their needs, is a sustainable investment and the cornerstone for a bright future.

We have encouraged civil society organisations and built government institutions from the ground up. We are proud of the establishment of the independent Judicial Council. Our increased attention to human rights, freedom of press and the rule of law are, for us, sound policies. Although such developments are less visible than reconstruction projects, they are nonetheless absolutely critical in guaranteeing a healthy, civilised and democratic community.

We have openly and transparently addressed the role and the treatment of women in our society. We have worked to empower women and to eliminate violence against women in all forms.

We have worked hard and have taken concrete steps to develop our natural resources, and we also promoted the oil and gas industry in the Kurdistan Region with this. We wanted to prove that natural resources should be managed for the prosperity and the well-being of the people.

During our term we were able to establish strong and productive relations with our neighbours. Compared to the past, our relations with neighbouring countries have witnessed remarkable progress. The Kurdistan Regional Government worked with dedication in encouraging and broadening peaceful relations and preventing any conflict from occurring.

We have opened our doors to the world. There are currently 16 foreign representations in the Kurdistan Region, and the number is increasing. These representatives and the continuous influx of foreign delegations that visit the Kurdistan Region are clear evidence of the high level of our relations with these countries.

Above all, we have worked to provide an environment of safety and security in which all citizens can live in peace and prosperity, without ethnic or religious discrimination.

The unique achievement of the last three years was the historic development and export of oil. These resources will enable us to improve the lives of every individual in our society and will help us to build an advanced region if we use them wisely.

We can guide our development programme on the basis of two principles:

We must put our energy resources to use, not only for the creation of national income, but also in the creation of infrastructure and commerce.

Instead of selling oil and gas directly from the field, we have chosen to use it to provide electric power and fuel. Now thousands of families have benefited from the exploitation of such resources.

We know that there will come a day when these resources will be depleted. As a responsibility to future generations, we have to think of developing agriculture, industry, tourism and long-term investment, together with establishing a fund for investment for the next generation.

We must work on the issue of openness and transparency in commercial activities. This is an objective for current needs, so that we can prove that we have listened to the needs of the people – those who supported us and those who criticized us.

I was pleased that the platforms during the election campaign included attention to the issues of good governance and transparency. These are issues discussed by democratic and developed countries and this is yet another evidence of our progress.

I am proud that, as Prime Minister, we worked on this issue, and we are now on the right track towards building an accountable, modern government. Now is the time for the government to work on issues of transparency and good governance; this process will continue with the same pace. We have fulfilled many of the promises that we made to our people.

Dear people of Kurdistan,

I hope that you also will be proud of these developments. We are at a unique stage in our history; previously we have not had such an opportunity. It is to be expected that we will face obstacles in the way of our development.

Serving you has been an honour and privilege, and a source of pride. I admit that sometimes it’s not easy to leave one’s post, because there is a lot of work still to be done. But I am proud that I was able to contribute to the prosperity of our Region and the development of our people.

The satisfaction of our people has been the greatest source of pleasure for me. However, it is important that new faces and new leaders will be given the chance to succeed.

I am confident that history will judge this first unified cabinet as one that was able to overcome tremendous challenges to provide services and improve living standards of our people. We have lived to see the dreams of our fathers and forefathers come true. We now have a homeland, and we live in peace and stability. We proved by our actions that we intend to maintain stability and prosperity for our people. And we are growing, politically and socially.

Once again I am proud to have played a humble role in this development. I would like to hereby wholeheartedly thank the people of Kurdistan, all the members of the fifth Cabinet, and all political parties for their support, respect and trust.

With my utmost respect and love for you, I wish you all a bright future, my fellow citizens.

At the end of my speech I would like to extend my sincere thanks to my wife Nabila, who has staunchly supported me all along and helped me to successfully perform my duties. I thank her for her continued support.

Thank you very much.

Good night, and may Kurdistan prosper.

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