SULAIMANI (ESTA) — Kurdish Deputy Prime Minister Qubad Talabani said on Tuesday the Kurdistan Region wants to resolve outstanding issues with the federal government.
Talabani met with British consul general in Erbil James Thornton to discuss relations between Erbil and Baghdad and developments in the region, a statement by his office said.
Talabani said the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) “wants to implement the [federal] budget law and is ready to resolve all outstanding issues between the Region and Baghdad through negotiations”, the statement read.
The Iraqi parliament approved the federal budget of 130 trillion Iraqi dinars ($89.65 billion) on March 31.
After months of wrangling, the 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.
Earlier this month, the KRG sent a delegation led by Talabani to Baghdad to implement the budget law for 2021.
Talabani said upon his return to the Region that Erbil and Baghdad were close to finalizing mechanisms necessary to implement the budget law.
“Good will & carrying out the law to the letter will take #GOI & #KRI relations beyond the stalemate of the past year, while assisting our economic recovery,” he said in a tweet.
