KRG delegation to meet Kurdistan Parliament ahead of Baghdad visit

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – A Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) delegation is scheduled to hold a meeting on Thursday with the Parliament in Erbil to discuss key topics ahead of talks with the federal government of Iraq. 

The delegation will discuss with parliament “the latest developments in ties between the federal government and the Kurdistan Regional Government,” a KRG statement said.

The meeting comes as the delegation prepares to visit Baghdad next week, where they will engage in a series of talks on unresolved issues between the KRG and the federal Iraqi government.

“The KRG agreed to send a delegation to Baghdad to ensure the Kurdistan Region’s interests are represented in the 2020 Iraqi budget,” read a government statement released Wednesday. The statement was issued following a meeting between the region’s Council of Ministers, headed by Prime Minister Masrour Barzani.

During a press conference that same day, KRG spokesperson Jotyar Adil said the Kurdish delegation would “initiate talks and exchange information regarding [Iraq’s] budget bill” with Iraq’s Ministry of Finance.

Ties between the two governments have notably improved since the beginning of 2019, with the formation of a new federal government headed by Iraqi Prime Minister Adil Abdul Mahdi. The governments had fallen out of favor in the aftermath of the Kurdistan Region’s historic independence referendum in September 2017.

Editing by Nadia Riva