SULAIMANI (ESTA) — The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) once again on Wednesday stressed implementing the Erbil-Baghdad deal, according to a statement released by KRG.
Co-chaired by Prime Minister Masrour Barzani, and his Deputy Qubad Talabani, the KRG Council of Ministers held an ordinary meeting, highlighting the three-year federal budget bill, including the resumption of crude exports based on the deal signed between Erbil and Baghdad.
The statement added that the KRG reiterated its commitment to the deal which is the result of “intense dialogue” and based on fair, legal, as well as scientific foundations.
KRG also underlined that the deal advocates securing constitutional rights, including the financial entitlement of the Kurdish people, according to the statement.
In the meantime, the KRG called on the Kurdish blocs in the Iraqi Council of Representatives to defend the Kurdistan Region’s constitutional rights and the financial entitlements within the federal budget bill through coordination to preserve unity.
The Iraqi parliament is set to convene today to vote on a three-year federal budget bill.
Iraq’s Council of Ministers in mid-March approved the federal budget bill for the years 2023, 2024, and 2025.
The country suffered from a lack of budget in 2022 due to political conflicts that emerged following October 2021 election to form a government.
Under the Iraqi constitution, the Kurdistan Region is also entitled to a portion of the national budget. But the arrangement collapsed in 2014 when the Kurds began selling crude independently from Kurdistan.
The Finance Committee in Iraq’s parliament made changes to articles 13 and 14 of the federal budget draft last month.
The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), recently said it opposed changes in the draft Iraqi federal budget that infringe on the rights of the Kurdish people.
KRG called the changes in the draft budget, introduced by members of the parliament’s finance committee, unconstitutional and “inconsistent with the agreement signed between the regional government and the federal government”.
