Turkish investment boosts Kurdish economy

Turkey has become one of Iraq’s biggest trading partners, with most of its investment in Kurdish north.

Iraq’s Kurdish province, one of the poorest regions in the country is experiencing a transformation, thanks to investment from neighbouring Turkey.

New worlds of luxury stores, hotels and restaurants have now emerged in the Kurdish capital, Irbil, as tens of billions of dollars have been invested here in the past five years.

There are more than 1,000 Turkish companies registered, and Turkish construction workers are changing Irbil’s skyline using an estimated 30,000 Turkish labourers from its own economically depressed Kurdish areas.

Al Jazeera’s Jane Arraf reports from Irbil.

Source: Al Jazeera