Kurdistan Delegation Heads to Baghdad as Oil and Salary Talks Advance
A final agreement is to be reached within the week, given the positive atmosphere in the ongoing talks. Once the deal is concluded, the federal government is expected to immediately authorize salary payments for May, followed by the June payroll for public employees in the Kurdistan Region.
ERBIL (Kurdistan24) — A senior delegation from the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) arrived in Baghdad on Saturday to continue negotiations with the federal government over the resumption of oil exports and the long-standing salary disputes of public sector employees in the region.
The visit follows a high-level delegation from Baghdad that was in Erbil on Thursday to initiate dialogue on these critical issues. Both parties agreed to keep meetings closed to media coverage until a final agreement is reached, Kurdistan24’s Baghdad correspondent Dilan Barzan reported.
The KRG delegation includes Omed Sabah, Chief of Staff to the Council of Ministers; Amanj Rahim, Secretary of the Council of Ministers; and Kamal Mohammed, Acting Minister of Natural Resources. Their mission is to finalize technical and financial arrangements necessary to resume the Kurdistan Region’s oil exports and address the financial entitlements of the region.
According to Barzan, the Iraqi federal delegation that visited Erbil earlier in the week was composed of representatives from the Ministry of Finance and senior officials from the Ministry of Oil, including those in charge of export and distribution. Their two-day meetings with the Kurdistan Ministry of Natural Resources yielded broad consensus, with final agreements pending.
Key Terms of the Preliminary Agreement
- Repayment of debts owed to oil companies operating in the Kurdistan Region.
- The KRG has agreed to supply approximately 300,000 barrels of oil per day to Iraq’s state oil marketing company, SOMO.
Further discussions are scheduled between the KRG delegation and Iraqi Oil Minister Hayyan Abdulghani, as well as SOMO representatives, to iron out the logistics of restarting oil flows.
Barzan added that expectations are high for a final agreement to be reached within the week, given the positive atmosphere in the ongoing talks. Once the deal is concluded, the federal government is expected to immediately authorize salary payments for May, followed by the June payroll for public employees in the Kurdistan Region.
On Wednesday, KRG Prime Minister Masrour Barzani announced at a press conference that a federal delegation would visit Erbil within days to help resolve the salary crisis and restart oil exports from the Kurdistan Region.
The negotiations mark one of the most serious efforts in recent months to bridge the fiscal and administrative disputes between Erbil and Baghdad, which have led to significant delays in public sector salary payments and a halt in the region’s independent oil exports.
