ERBIL, Kurdistan Region of Iraq - The first sugar factory in the Kurdistan Region and Iraq is set to open in Duhok province, an official said Thursday, adding that the project is worth $110 million and expected to create over 400 jobs.

“This factory is being built for the first time in Kurdistan and Iraq. The project will be implemented on an area of 300 dunams of land within the boundaries of Qasrok sub-district, part of Sheikhan District in the eastern part of Duhok Governorate,” Haval Sadiq, head of investment for Duhok, told The New Region.

“The factory's output will be of sufficient quality to supply all of Kurdistan and Iraq,” he added.

Over 20 construction licenses have been granted for food factories in Duhok during the Kurdistan Regional Government’s (KRG) ninth cabinet, in a broader move to diversify the economy and reduce reliance on imported goods.

More than 7,000 companies registered in the Kurdistan Region in two years after the government eased business registration requirements in a move to support entrepreneurs, Bilind Mohammed, head of the General Directorate of Company Registration, told The New Region in December.

In November, Kurdistan Region Prime Minister Masrour Barzani said that his cabinet has created over 140,000 jobs for young people in the private sector, while offering the KRG’s support for business owners.

The KRG has also exported various agricultural products such as pomegranates, apples, and grapes to several countries across the region and Europe as well as the US.