Nechirvan Barzani (L), the prime minister of the Kurdish regional government, shakes hands with Frank-Walter Steinmeier, Germany’s foreign minister, following the unveiling of a plaque of the new German Consulate in the northern city of Arbil, 350 kms from the Iraqi capital Baghdad on February 18, 2009. Steinmeier is on an official visit to Iraq, the first by a German diplomat in two decades.