According to the website of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, on April 4, 2017, Consul General Tan Banglin in Erbil called on the new assistant to the Chairman of the Kurdish Region of Iraq, Howlami. Consul General Tan congratulated Hao on his new duties and expressed his willingness to continue to maintain good working relations and personal friendship with him, and to continuously promote friendly relations and pragmatic cooperation between China and the Kurbakh region.
Howami thanked Consul General Tan for his friendship and expressed his willingness to continue to maintain good communication and coordination with Consul General Tan in his new post and jointly promote the in-depth development of friendly and cooperative relations between the two sides.
The two sides also had an in-depth exchange of views on the political and security situation in the reservoir area, the relations between the reservoir area and the central government, and the proposed referendum in the reservoir area.