Iraq
Kurdistan Region President Nechirvan Barzani (left) and Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia' al-Sudani shaking hands in Baghdad on April 6, 2024. Photo: Office of President Barzani
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - The future of Baghdad-Erbil relations took center stage when Kurdistan Region President Nechirvan Barzani met Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia’ al-Sudani on Saturday.
President Barzani arrived in Baghdad on Saturday afternoon for meetings with Prime Minister Sudani and Iraqi political and governmental leaders, including leaders of the Shiite-led State Administration Coalition that backs the current government.
Barzani and Sudani discussed relations between Erbil and Baghdad, the salaries of the Kurdistan Region’s civil servants, and Kurdish oil exports.
Below is the transcript of the two leaders' remarks during the joint press conference following their meeting.
PM Sudani: Today, we were honored with the visit of the dear brother Kurdistan Region President Nechirvan Barzani and a delegation of ministers and the head of the Diwan. Of course, this visit is important and comes within the context of the ongoing communication between the federal government and the Kurdistan Region presidency. The Kurdistan Region president is always present during many of the issues that relate to the people, their livelihoods, services, and the rest, as well as the small technical and executive issues between the Kurdistan Region and state institutions.
The discussions that took place reaffirmed important and essential principles, which are a part of the political agreement, under which the [federal] government was formed, and which reaffirms the commitment to the constitution, the principle of power-sharing, balance, and resolving all outstanding issues in accordance with the constitution.
One of the important issues for our people in the Kurdistan Region is financing public salaries, including civilians, armed forces, martyr families, and social care. In light of the recent ruling of the Federal Supreme Court, the finance ministry began communicating with the Region’s finance ministry to complete the measures leading up to the localization process, which requires time and this has been confirmed by the Federal Supreme Court to facilitate the localization process.
Based on this, we took the initiative of financing the salaries based on the official lists of employees in all ministries and aforementioned categories, which was reviewed by the federal and regional financial supervision bureaus. Later, it was sent to the finance ministry to begin distributing the salaries, and that is what happened in February and March, as full salaries were paid. Of course, we are keen on continuing the financing process in a way that does not contradict the rulings of the Federal Supreme Court, and in a way that facilitates securing the salaries that are the livelihood of the people. Our responsibility as the government is caring for the employees and citizens, whether that is in the Region or the rest of the provinces, and that is done through the required cooperation and flexibility between the KRG and the federal government.
The rest of the issues were also discussed and negotiated, including resuming oil exports, as well as the needed amendments to the federal budget and the [oil] contracts, a full review of the contract texts as outlined in the three-year budget law. All of these were discussed with a sense of responsibility and great care to continue this understanding and cooperation.
There were also discussions with the political forces. There is a meeting of the State Administration Coalition, at which we will host the Kurdistan Region president. All of these activities and meetings are going towards this direction, which confirms the understanding and joint work to serve the people of our nation everywhere.
President Barzani: I thank Mr Prime Minister for his warm welcome today. I thank the prime minister for all his efforts to resolve the existing issues between the Kurdistan Region and Baghdad, and in fact all the issues that exist in Iraq generally. We see that since his inauguration as prime minister, he has made a serious effort in every possible way to serve all of Iraq, whether it was the Kurdistan Region or other parts of Iraq.
We are happy with our visit today. We emphasized our support for the prime minister for the success of his government’s plan. And in the meeting we had today, we stressed the implementation of the agreement made to form the government. Naturally, we are happy that as a result of that agreement, the salaries of Kurdistan Region civil servants are paid, as the prime minister pointed out, within the framework of the agreement between the [Kurdistan Regional Government] Prime Minister Mr Masrour [Barzani] and Mr Prime Minister Sudani. This is sustained and it continues.
In the meeting we discussed future relations of the Kurdistan Region and Baghdad, which we are sure that under his [PM Sudani’s] guidance and leadership, we can reach a mutual understanding in the Kurdistan Region-Baghdad relations that will benefit all of Iraq and the Kurdistan Region.
In the meeting we touched upon the topic of oil. Up until now there are several issues in that respect, but some good agreements were made and we hope that the issue of oil is solved as soon as possible. And we hope that in his visit to the United States, the prime minister returns with great achievements that will benefit all of Iraq.
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