Below is an article published by the Fars News Agency:

Deputy Head of the Iraqi Patriotic Union of Kurdistan Barham Salih is slated to pay a visit to Iran in the near future, PUK Spokesman Azad Jandiyani announced on Sunday [9 February 2014].

“Salih will head a high-ranking PUK delegation to Tehran in his upcoming visit,” the PUK spokesman said.

Jandiyani underlined that Salih’s visit to Iran will take place on the threshold of PUK’s upcoming General Assembly meeting.

Iran and the Iraqi Kurdistan region have enjoyed growing ties ever since the overthrow of the former Iraqi dictator, Saddam Hussein, during the 2003 US invasion of the Muslim country.

Salih was in Iran in July 2012 to explore avenues for the further development of the bilateral relations between the two sides.

During the five-day trip, Salih discussed consolidation of PUK relations with Iran as well as the role, importance and expansion of Iraq's ties with the Islamic Republic.

A senior Iraqi Kurdish official announced in July 2012 that the value of the trade ties between Iran and Iraqi Kurdistan region would exceed $4bln thanks to the two sides' growing cooperation.

“This year [2012], the maximum value of our trade activities will exceed $4bln and such a boost is certainly the result of further cooperation,” PUK’s Representative Nazzem Dabbaq told FNA at the time, adding that the value of bilateral trade ties with Iran was $100 million in 2000.

He voiced Kurdistan's willingness to boost trade ties with Iran, and noted, "The present and the future of Iran and Kurdistan are tied to each other. They should always have continued contacts with each other."