Kurdistan Region Prime Minister Masrour Barzani on Thursday reiterated the need to resolve outstanding issues between Erbil and the federal Iraqi government in Baghdad “according to the national constitution.”
The statement came during a meeting held in Erbil between a Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) delegation led by Barzani and an Iraqi team headed by federal communications minister Arkan al-Shaibani.
The two discussed ways to develop relations in the field of communications, said a KRG statement summarizing the meeting, which was also attended by Kurdistan Region communications minister Ano Jawhar and the chief of the Iraqi Media and Communications Authority, Ali al-Khweildi.
Shaibani expressed his ministry’s readiness to support the Kurdistan Region to develop the telecommunications sector across the country.
He affirmed that Baghdad respects the KRG’s political status and “look forward to establishing solid relations with the [Kurdistan] Region,” noting further that strengthening the Kurdistan Region is in the best interest of Iraq and vice versa, the KRG statement added.
Last week, a KRG delegation headed by Deputy Prime Minister Qubad Talabani convened in Baghdad with the British and American ambassadors to Iraq on Thursday to discuss the latest round of talks between the regional and federal government on the pending issues.
The two ambassadors threw their support behind reaching an agreement between the KRG and federal government, a statement from the KRG read, so the two governments can dedicate their efforts to tackle other issues, particularly the coronavirus and the resurgence of the so-called Islamic State in the disputed territories.
The high-level talks were just the latest in efforts to address longstanding fundamental issues between Erbil and Baghdad, such as disputed territories claimed by both and agreements on oil and budgets.
Kurdistan 24
02/07/2020
