The Kurdistan Regional Government Foreign Minister, Falah Mustafa Bakir, will on Wednesday ask Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop for direct Australian military help for the Kurdish Peshmerga army to more effectively take on IS in the border areas around the Kurdish region in northern Iraq. 
At the same time, he will outline a new possible peace plan for the war-torn Iraq-Syria region, a plan which has at its core a historic future agreement between the US and Russia to act together to defeat IS. Ms Bishop will also be invited to visit Erbil, capital of the Kurdistan regional government.
"We look to Australia as an important partner not just in the international Coalition but also bilaterally," Mr Bakir told The Australian Financial Review in an exclusive interview.
"Australia stands for values and principles: for justice, peace, security, democracy and human rights. It has enjoyed good relations with Iraq and with Kurdistan. We want to further develop these ties.
"We also want assistance from Australia in terms of helping us with the International Criminal Court to recognise the crimes have been committed against the (minority) Yazidis (in northern Iraq), and against Christians and other minorities," Mr Bakir said.

Military needs
He said the Kurdish Peshmerga army needs tanks, armoured personnel carriers, anti-tank weapons, and artillery. Lack of modern weapons, military training, and shortages of medicine, food, clothing and temporary accommodation for the 1.8 million displaced people and refugees will be high on the list of discussion points.
Mr Bakir says the Kurdistan regional government has not received any recent military help from the central government in Baghdad, and does not benefit from any budgetary assistance from the Iraqi capital.
He will invite Ms Bishop to visit Erbil, the capital of the Kurdistan regional government, and urge Australia to join 33 other countries, including the five permanent members of the UN Security Council, to establish a diplomatic mission in Erbil.