SULAIMANI (ESTA) — Kurdistan Region President Nechirvan Barzani met with Iraqi political leaders during his second day of visit in Baghdad on Sunday.
Barzani met with Ammar al-Hakim, head of al-Hikma Movement, Nouri al-Maliki, State of Law leader, Hadi al-Amiri, head of Fateh coalition, and Osama Nujaifi, head of Salvation and Development Front.
The Kurdish president and Iraqi political leaders discussed the latest development in the country, Iraq’s federal budget law for 2021, early parliamentary elections, and relations between Baghdad and Erbil, according to Iraqi media.
Maliki and Barzani stressed the need to strengthen cooperation to reach “radical solutions” to problems between the Kurdistan Region and the federal government, according to Maliki’s office.
In a statement, Hakim called during the meeting with Barzani for the approval of Iraq’s budget for 2021 and dialogue as a way and a method to put an end to disputes between Baghdad and Erbil.
Barzani visited Baghdad on Saturday. He held talks with Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi, President Barham Salih, Parliament Speaker Mohammed al-Halbousi, head of Supreme Judicial Council Faiq Zidan, U.N. envoy to Iraq Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert.
During the meeting with Barzani, Kadhimi stressed the need to strengthen “security coordination between Baghdad and Erbil in a manner that achieves internal stability and precents any gap that could be exploited by terrorists or organized crimes in the disputed areas”, the premier’s office said.
They also discussed the federal budget law for 2021. Kadhimi hoped the law would be applied “accurately and would not engage in interpretations that contradict the provision of service to Iraqi citizens,” the statement said.
The Iraqi Council of Representatives approved the federal budget of 130 trillion Iraqi dinars ($89.65 billion) as the country wrestles with an economic and financial crisis due to low crude prices.
After months of wrangling, the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) and the central government reached an agreement on thorny issues, including oil and non-oil revenues.
Under the 2021 budget law, the Kurdistan Region will be committed to produce 460,000 barrels of oil per day (bpd).
After deducting expenses for production operations in the Region, transport of oil and the domestic consumption of crude oil, the KRG must hand over to Baghdad revenues generated from regional oil exports of 250,000 bpd, according to Iraq’s SOMO pricing, as well as 50 percent of non-oil revenue.
The Kurdistan Region, in return, will receive its share of the budget, which is set at 13.9%.
In his meeting with the U.N. envoy in Iraq, Barzani stressed the importance of U.N. role in Iraq, the Region’s presidency said in a statement.
Hennis-Plasschaert hoped the Kurdistan Region and Iraq would reach a solution to their problems through dialogue and on the basis of Iraqi constitution, the statement read.
