The prime minister of Iraq’s Kurdish Regional Government (KRG) on Monday hailed ties with Turkey as "important and strategic.”

Meeting with Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu in Erbil, Nechirvan Barzani expressed his regional government’s readiness to help facilitate Turkish investments in the region, according to a KRG statement.

He expressed the region’s people and government’s thanks to Turkey for supporting the region during its hardships, according to the statement.

In their meeting, Barzani and Cavusoglu discussed boosting ties and trade between the KRG and Turkey as well as opening more border crossings and coordination in fighting terrorism, said the statement.

The meeting also dealt with the situation in the larger Middle East region.

The meeting was held in the presence of a number of KRG officials as well as Turkish Ambassador in Iraq Fatih Yildiz, Turkish Consul in the KRG Hakan Karacay, and Cavusoglu’s delegation.

Cavusoglu arrived on Sunday in Baghdad and held talks with Iraqi Prime Minister Adil Abdul-Mahdi as well as other senior Iraqi officials.