Kurdistan President Meets U.S. Envoy in Erbil, Discusses Erbil-Baghdad Relations and Salaries Issue
President Barzani expressed gratitude to Fagin for his role in advancing U.S. relations with both Iraq and the Kurdistan Region, praising his efforts to help facilitate dialogue between Erbil and Baghdad.
ERBIL (Kurdistan24) — Kurdistan Region President Nechirvan Barzani on late Saturday welcomed Steven Fagin, Chargé d’Affaires of the U.S. Embassy in Iraq, for talks in Erbil on a range of pressing political and economic issues.
The meeting addressed the current situation in Iraq and the Kurdistan Region, with a particular focus on relations between Erbil and Baghdad, the long-disputed question of public sector salaries, and the Region’s financial entitlements. Both sides also discussed broader U.S. ties with Iraq and the Kurdistan Region.
According to the presidency, Barzani and Fagin reaffirmed the importance of strengthening U.S.-Iraq and U.S.-Kurdistan relations on the basis of shared interests. They further underlined that disputes between Erbil and Baghdad should be resolved through dialogue and mutual understanding.
President Barzani expressed gratitude to Fagin for his role in advancing U.S. relations with both Iraq and the Kurdistan Region, praising his efforts to help facilitate dialogue between Erbil and Baghdad.
Regional developments and a number of issues of mutual concern also featured in the meeting, which was attended by the Kurdistan Region Presidency’s Chief of Staff, the Cabinet Secretary, and the U.S. Consul General in Erbil.
The dispute over salaries and financial entitlements has been a recurring source of tension between Erbil and Baghdad for over a decade. Successive Iraqi governments have at times withheld the Kurdistan Region’s share of the federal budget, citing disagreements over independent oil exports, customs revenues, and financial transparency.
Such measures—implemented most notably in 2014 and again in 2020—left hundreds of thousands of Kurdish civil servants without regular pay, creating widespread economic hardship and fueling mistrust toward Baghdad. The Iraqi Constitution of 2005 guarantees the Region its fair share of federal revenues, while Baghdad argues that Erbil must fully comply with national fiscal policies and hand over all non-oil revenues.
Despite occasional agreements, including recent short-term arrangements brokered under Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani, a lasting resolution has yet to be reached. The issue continues to dominate political discourse in the Kurdistan Region and remains a test of relations between the federal and regional governments.
