Kurdistan Parliament gives confidence to minister of natural resources

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) minister of natural resources was given the vote of confidence on Wednesday by the majority of Kurdistan Parliament members, marking the second minister for the post since its establishment in 2005.

Legislators in an extraordinary session on Wednesday assembled to vote on Minister Kamal Mohammad Atroshi for the ministry of natural resources of the KRG’s ninth cabinet following his nomination by Prime Minister Masrour Barzani on Sunday.

Out of 101 present members of parliament at the session, Dr. Atroshi gained “81 votes” in his favor, completing the ninth cabinet ministers.

Following the vote of confidence motion, the newly appointed minister was sworn in in front of Kurdish lawmakers.

The Ministry of Natural Resources is one of the key ministries as the Kurdish autonomous region heavily relies on revenue from natural resources.

Atroshi’s profile

Minister Atroshi is a technocrat, having over 40 years of extensive knowledge in the energy sector with numerous international oil companies and institutions such as French Total and Kuwait’s KUFPEC.

Atroshi acquired his PhD in Geophysics at the French University of Bordeaux.

The new minister is also knowledgeable about the Kurdistan Region’s energy sector as he has been the KRG Prime Minister’s Energy Advisor previously.

“We will create a well structure according to international standards at the ministry of natural resources,” Atroshi told Kurdistan 24 on Tuesday when he was asked about his objective in his new post.

“Our next goal is to train those who have graduated from oil engineering or oil and gas related fields to work at the ministry [natural resources],” Atroshi added.

Atroshi’s appointment comes at a time when the Kurdistan Region is going through economic distress, caused by a historic collapse in oil prices and the global coronavirus pandemic, of which the Kurdistan Region has seen over 103,000 cases along with more than 3,403.

Editing by Karzan Sulaivany