HE the Minister of Commerce and Industry Sheikh Mohamed bin Hamad bin Qassim al-Thani met Wednesday Masrour Barzani, Prime Minister of Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), who is currently visiting Qatar.

Kurdish protesters, angered by years of austerity and unpaid public sector salaries, set fire to the offices of political parties near the city of Sulaimaniyah on Monday, demanding that Iraq's semi-autonomous Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) quit.

Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi, seeking to up the pressure in a stand-off with Iraq's Kurdish region, said on Tuesday he would act soon over border areas under Kurdish control but predicted his government's forces would regain them without violence.