Kurdistan Region and Iraq Discuss 11 Agricultural Issues to Remove Obstacles
Kurdistan Region Agriculture Minister says talks with Iraq’s agriculture minister covered 11 issues and resulted in an agreement to establish a high-level joint committee to address shared challenges.
ERBIL (Kurdistan24) - Kurdistan Region Minister of Agriculture and Water Resources Begard Talabani said Sunday that he held detailed talks with Iraq’s agriculture minister and his accompanying delegation on 11 issues concerning the two sides, with the aim of removing obstacles in managing shared agricultural files.
Talabani said the meeting was comprehensive and focused specifically on 11 issues that are in the interests of both ministries. The discussions aimed to fully resolve obstacles that arise in dealing with joint dossiers between the Kurdistan Region and the Iraqi government.
She also said the two sides had agreed to establish a high-level joint committee and emphasized the need to address temporary problems so that obstacles can be overcome even through telephone communication when necessary.
Talabani stressed that Iraq, including the Kurdistan Region, constitutes a single food basket and that the two sides complement each other’s markets.
She said farmers’ rights should be protected equally across Iraq and called for final decisions to be based on a unified agricultural calendar to which all sides would remain committed.
The talks also covered the process of purchasing wheat from farmers, the movement of agricultural products between the Kurdistan Region and central and southern Iraq, facilitating the issuance of health permits, exports, and coordination in team exercises and training.
Talabani said Iraq’s agriculture minister had demonstrated serious willingness to improve coordination and reach greater mutual understanding in the future.
She explained that a committee in Iraq, headed by the Iraqi agriculture minister, meets annually, and that the Kurdistan Region had requested that the committee convene either in October or at the beginning of November with the participation of representatives from the Kurdistan Region’s Ministry of Agriculture.
The purpose of the meeting would be to discuss determining the Kurdistan Region’s share of wheat purchased from farmers.
Talabani said the Region’s farmers should be treated in the same manner as farmers in central and southern Iraq when it comes to wheat purchases and the allocation of the agricultural quota.