Nechirvan Barzani was appointed Prime Minister of the Kurdistan
Regional Government’s eighth Cabinet in June 2014. Mr. Barzani led the
fifth Cabinet from 2006 – 2009 and the seventh Cabinet from 2012 –
2014, spearheading a number of strategic developments in the Kurdistan
Region.
Prime Minister Barzani was born in 1966 in the mountain village of
Barzan. He is the grandson of Mustafa Barzani, the legendary Kurdish
leader and founder of the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP). His
father, Idris Barzani, was a senior leader of the KDP and spent his
life fighting for the rights of the Kurdish people.
In 1975 Mr. Barzani and his family, along with tens of thousands of
Kurds from Iraq, fled to Iran in search of safety from Iraq’s Ba’ath
regime. Following in the footsteps of his father and grandfather, Mr.
Barzani became actively engaged in Kurdish political affairs and rose
rapidly through the ranks of the KDP. He was first elected to KDP
leadership at its tenth Congress in 1989 and re-elected at subsequent
congresses.
In 1996 Mr. Barzani was appointed Deputy Prime Minister of the
Kurdistan Regional Government, which was established following the
1992 elections in the Region. In 1999 he was appointed Prime Minister.
In March 2006, he was chosen to lead the fifth Cabinet, the KRG’s
first unified cabinet. Prime Minister Barzani also holds the position
of KDP Vice President.
In his capacity as Prime Minister, Mr. Barzani has promoted a number
of strategic initiatives designed to improve the standard of living
and social and economic climate in Kurdistan. These include an
ambitious natural resources policy, promotion of economic and
political relations with neighbors and the international community,
formation of a robust domestic economy, promotion of foreign
investment, defense of the rights of women, promotion of basic and
higher education, and the complete reconstruction of the Kurdistan
Region’s infrastructure – particularly the electricity grid, water
resource management, housing, and road networks. Mr. Barzani is widely
considered as a key architect in the success of the Kurdistan Region.
His vision continues to drive the government’s social, political, and
economic policy aimed at improving lives of citizens in the Region, as
well as relations with Turkey and the KRG oil and gas policy.
Prime Minister Barzani is married to Nabila Barzani, and has three
sons and two daughters. He is fluent in Kurdish, Farsi, and English,
and speaks Arabic. He is fond of Kurdish and Persian poetry and
literature.
