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Ballard Partners lands a $900K contract to help the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan strengthen its economic, political and cultural ties with the US.
It will advise, counsel and assist the PUK on communicating with government officials, decision makers, non-governmental organizations, and other individuals in the US.
Ballard is “to consult with the client and advocate on its behalf those issues the client deems necessary and appropriate before the Federal government,” according to the contract.
The one-year pact specifies that strategic communications services offered through the Ballard Media Group are not part of the representation.
The Kurdistan Development Agency hired Ballard on behalf of the PUK.
Brian Ballard and Aaron Sampson, the US Foreign Service Officer who joined the firm last month as senior advisor on African affairs, handle the work.
Sampson, who was a Peace Corps volunteer in Gabon and Madagascar, has more than two decades of international affairs, diplomacy and political analysis experience.
He was the State Dept.’s Africa director in the Bureau of Democracy and Human Rights.
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