Erdogan, al-Sudani address economic cooperation
ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia' al-Sudani on Friday received a phone call from Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, according to the Iraqi Premier’s office.
In the phone call, the Iraqi PM stressed Iraq's commitment to fostering regional and international partnerships to generate economic growth.
Moreover, al-Sudani emphasized the importance of promoting stability and security in the region.
Meanwhile, President Erdogan stressed the importance of enhancing cooperation with Iraq.
Erdogan expressed Turkish companies' willingness to actively participate in road project development, as it presents a significant economic opportunity and can improve the infrastructure of Iraq.
Erdogan is scheduled to visit Iraq in the near future.
On Monday, Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) Acting Minister of Natural Resources Kamal Mohammed Salih told Kurdistan 24 that it is an urgent priority to resume Kurdistan Region oil exports based on contracts they have with the Iraqi Oil Ministry and State Organization for Marketing of Oil (SOMO), and that hopefully the issue will be resolved during Erdogan's visit to Iraq.
In April, KRG PM Masrour Barzani and Iraqi PM al-Sudani, in the Iraqi capital, announced a new economic agreement between Erbil and Baghdad.
Per the new deal, SOMO will market and export 400,000 bpd of Kurdish crude oil at market prices. Kurdish oil sales revenue will be deposited in a Central Bank of Iraq (CBI) account owned by the KRG and monitored by Baghdad.
Moreover, the Iraqi government spokesperson, Basim al-Awadi, announced that the budget proposal estimates oil revenues at 117.3 trillion Iraqi dinars ($8.9 billion USD), while non-oil revenues will be 17.3 trillion Iraqi dinars ($1.3 billion USD) in the three-year budget proposal.
The total proposed expenditure amounts to nearly 198 trillion Iraqi dinars ($151 billion USD), while investment projects are estimated to be 47.5 trillion Iraqi dinars ($36.2 billion USD).