SULAIMANI (ESTA) — A delegation from the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) will visit Baghdad in the near future to resolve issues between both sides, Deputy Prime Minister Qubad Talabani said on Tuesday.
The KRG deputy premier met with a British delegation led by Minister for Middle East and North Africa James Cleverly in Erbil on Tuesday.
Talabani said during the meeting that the KRG is ready to resolve all issues with the federal government on the basis of Iraqi constitution, his office said in a statement.
“We have decided to send a KRG delegation to Baghdad,” Talabani added.
In April, the federal government, led by former prime minister Adil Abdul Mahdi, cut off all budget transfers to the Kurdistan Region due to the KRG’s failure to export 250,000 barrels of oil per day (bpd) through Baghdad.
In November 2019, Erbil and Baghdad reached an agreement to resolve their ongoing disagreement over oil, after Erbil agreed to export 250,000 bpd through Baghdad to Turkey’s Ceyhan port in exchange for the Region’s share of the federal budget.
Relations between Baghdad and Erbil eased after Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi took office in May. Kadhimi told the KRG prime minister in a telephone call in August that the federal government would send 320 billion Iraqi dinars to the Kurdistan Region as payment for the Region’s employees until the end of the year.
But a loan law, adopted by the Iraqi Council of Representatives on Nov. 12, commits the KRG to hand over non-oil revenues and an amount of oil which SOMO indicates to the federal government in exchange for the Region’s share.
On Nov. 16, KRG representative in Baghdad Faris Issa said Baghdad would keep sending 320 billion dinars to the Region until the federal budget for fiscal year 2021 will be approved.
“What is written in the loan law will not affect the 320 billion dinars,” he noted.
The federal government, however, has yet to transfer salaries of the Region’s public servants, despite distributing payments of its employees for October.
KRG Prime Minister Masrour Barzani said on Tuesday that the Region had implemented its duty and commitment to reach a deal with Baghdad, calling on the federal government to send the Region’s financial entitlements.
“The KRG has implemented all of its duties and commitment to reach an agreement [with Baghdad] on the basis of Iraqi Constitution,” Barzani said during a meeting with the British delegation.
“The federal government should implement its duties and provide the Region’s rights and financial entitlements,” he added.
