"He arrived in Arbil, heading a delegation of several Jordanian ministers and businessmen," said Falah Mustafa, head of the foreign affairs department of the Kurdish regional government.

Bakhit was greeted at the airport by Kurdish premier Barham Saleh and was to take part in an economic conference, Mustafa said.

Jordan's consul in Kurdistan, Faiz al-Khouri, said the aim of the conference was to ink investment deals for the northern autonomous region.