ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - The United Nations cultural agency UNESCO has signed a landmark $10 million agreement with KAR Group, a major privately-owned oil company in the Kurdistan Region, to renovate the ancient citadel of Erbil, KAR Group CEO Baz Karim al-Barzanji told Rudaw on Tuesday.
UNESCO added the Erbil Citadel to its World Heritage Sites list in 2014. Located in downtown Erbil, the citadel is 6,024 years old. Renovation efforts to preserve the site began in 2009 and are still ongoing.
Barzanji said “the historic agreement” - signed in Paris on Tuesday - is “crucial for transforming the Erbil Citadel into a cultural center where people can get acquainted with Erbil’s history and heritage.”
Established in 2009, KAR Group has completed nearly 2,400 infrastructure projects across Iraq since 2003, including roads, water systems, sanitation, communication, schools, and hospitals - not only in the Kurdistan Region, but across Iraqi provinces.
UNESCO’s representative in Iraq, Alexandros K. Makarigakis, said the deal marks a “great day for the Erbil Citadel,” as it ushers in “a new phase of restoration and revitalization.”
“We have been working hand-in-hand with the Kurdistan Regional Government [KRG] to ensure that the Erbil Citadel becomes a world heritage site,” he told Rudaw.
Millions of tourists, mostly from Iraqi central and southern provinces, visit the Kurdistan Region annually, including Erbil province.
“Today, we are expanding this work, and for the first time, we are doing so with a private company - in particular, KAR Group - which brings a new dimension to our partnerships,” Makarigakis added.
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The signing ceremony took place at UNESCO Headquarters in Paris, where Ernesto Ottone, UNESCO’s Assistant Director-General for Culture, and the KAR Group CEO formalized the partnership in the presence of UNESCO Director-General Audrey Azoulay.
A KRG delegation also attended the signing ceremony.
Safeen Dizayee, Head of the KRG’s Department of Foreign Relations, told Rudaw that “restoring the Erbil Citadel is not the [regional] government’s responsibility alone, as it requires significant resources, expertise, and funding.”
“Fortunately, the private sector, and KAR Group in particular, has stepped up - helping to finance part of the renovation and ensuring it aligns with UNESCO standards. The goal is for the citadel to become a scientific, cultural, and tourist center that reflects Erbil’s spirit and pride,” Dizayee said.
This is not the first major funding effort aimed at preserving the Erbil Citadel. KAR Group, alongside the European Union, the United States, and the Kurdistan Region’s authorities, has previously contributed significant funds to its restoration.
In April 2019, NASA described the Erbil Citadel as the oldest continuously inhabited human settlement on Earth.
According to the predictions of the High Commission for Erbil Citadel Revitalization (HCECR) - an affiliate of the KRG - full restoration of the site may take another 20 years to complete.