Iraq’s new finance minister Fuad Hussein was a refugee in the Netherlands for years before returning to his homeland in 2003, broadcaster NOS said on Thursday.

Hussein, who is 69, fled Iraq in the 1970s and settled in the Netherlands. He studied at the VU University in Amsterdam, married a Dutch woman and worked for refugee rights. He is also a fluent Dutch speaker, the broadcaster said.

Fourteen of the 22 ministerial candidates appointed by new prime minister Adel Abdul-Mahdi were approved by parliament on Wednesday evening.

Hussein, who failed in his bid to become president at the beginning of this month, represents the Kurdish Democratic Party.