Erbil, Kurdistan Region, Iraq (cabinet.gov.krd) – Prime Minister Nechirvan Barzani inaugurated the new building of Kurdistan Institute of Public Administration (KIPA) on Tuesday. 

In a speech, Prime Minister Barzani stated, he hopes that KIPA “will continue to work diligently to provide the much needed services of building the capacities of Kurdistan Regional Government’s civil servants.”

Below is the transcript of Mr. Barzani’s speech:

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Good Morning.  I would like to welcome you all to this ceremony of inaugurating the new building of Kurdistan Institute of Public Administration (KIPA). I would like to specially welcome the Republic of Korea’s Ambassador to Iraq Mr. Song Wong-Yeob, Korean Consul General in the Kurdistan Region and the Head of Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA) in Baghdad. I especially welcome Professor Park who came from Seoul specifically to this occasion and I welcome you all again.
Today, human resources’ development is important for change and progress in all sectors and major fields, especially in the fields of governance and administration. Capacity building and Development is key to the development of Administrative, economic, social and cultural sectors.

Competency and capacity are very important for human resources. One of the main pillars of human resources’ development is training. That is equipping the staff member with up-to-date information and more knowledge about their field of work. Information and knowledge get updated continuously. In order to enable the KRG institutions and their staff to cope with the progress in all fields, especially good governance, the KRG should make training and capacity building part of its human resources development strategy.

Therefore, all technical, material and moral necessities should be made available for this purpose and all parties and individuals should be urged to adhere to implement the directives and instructions related to capacity building and training. And this is, again, for the purpose of developing the civil service in administrative, technical and theoretical areas based on modern principles.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Fortunately, the Kurdistan Regional Government is rich in human resources in various fields of knowledge and expertise. If these resources are better guided, reorganized and utilized in accordance to international standards, they can render quality services to the public and can energize civil servants, professionals and even government institutions to work more actively and, ultimately, develop the country.

According to the experience that the Kurdistan Institute of Public Administration (KIPA) has shown so far, we are looking forward that inaugurating this building will further reinvigorate the efforts to train KRG staff and better support KRG’s plan to reorganize, redirect and better utilize its human resources.

With the start of the KRG’s 7th Cabinet, the Kurdistan Institute of Public Administration became a governmental institution that is operating as part of the KRG Ministry of Planning. In the beginning, in 2005, it started as a non-governmental organization specializing in organizing training courses, workshops and seminars in different fields including IT, administrative and financial training.

KIPA cooperated and coordinated with other institutions and NGOs in and outside the Kurdistan Region so that it organize training courses and workshops in many fields and benefit the KRG by improving the administrative performance of its ministries and institutions. Since it embarked on this mission, thousands of KRG civil servants from different ranks and positions have participated in KIPA’s training courses and benefited from the latest information it offered about different fields of governance and administration.

In accordance to a memorandum of understanding signed with the Republic of Korea in 2013, through Korea’s International Cooperation Agency (KOICA), the project of renovating KIPA’s building started at the cost of 13 million US Dollars. The agreement also included drafting the KIPA law and training strategy and preparing qualified staff to run KIPA. The trainers and staff attended thorough training courses in the Republic of Korea. The Center, thus, is being inaugurated today to become the new building of Kurdistan Institute of Public Administration (KIPA) to work in accordance to international standards of training.

I would like to thank our friends in the Republic of Korea, especially KOICA and their staff in Baghdad and the Kurdistan Region who played a major role in making this project succeed. The Republic of Korea has always proved that it is a friend of the people of Kurdistan Region. We respect and appreciate your friendship and support for the Kurdistan Region.

On this occasion, while this project has been implemented by the Koreans in the Kurdistan Region, I would like to remind ourselves of the role of the Republic of Korea army contingent, the Zaytun Division, for the invaluable work and support they provided for Kurdistan in general and for Erbil in particular. After many years, on behalf of the people and the government of Kurdistan, I salute every one of soldiers who came to the Kurdistan Region. They were about 4000 soldiers and during their stay in the Kurdistan Region, they implemented many projects, many of which were in Erbil. 

Again, on behalf of the people and the government of Kurdistan, I send my regards to each one of them; we commend and thank them for all the contribution they made. We assure them that the people of Kurdistan will always remember their support and will never forget it.

I would also like to thank KRG’s Minister of Planning Dr. Ali Sindi and his Ministry’s staff who have worked tirelessly for the past four years to make this project possible.  I hope that KIPA will continue to work diligently to provide the much needed services of building the capacities of KRG civil servants.

I congratulate KIPA for this new building and wish success for its staff. We expect them to work vigorously to prepare more skilled employees for the Kurdistan Region. I would like to ask you to maintain your relations with sister institutions around the world and become another bridge with the outside world.

Thanks again for attending this event and have a nice day.