KRG delegation to visit Baghdad next week, discuss 2020 federal budget: spokesperson
During a press conference following the meeting, KRG spokesperson Jutyar Ali said the Kurdish delegation would “initiate talks and exchange information regarding [Iraq’s] budget bill” with Iraq’s Ministry of Finance, as well as the KRG’s participation in the preparation of the draft budget bill from the early stages.
Another key issue discussed in the meeting was the formation of a special committee to oversee preparations for the upcoming Iraqi national census in 2020, Adil revealed.
The committee will “assess and ensure the rights of all the different ethnicities and religions in the Kurdistan Region are considered,” the spokesperson added.
Read More: PM Barzani: Iraq’s 2020 census should not be politicized
According to the KRG statement, the autonomous Kurdish government “will invite Iraq’s finance, oil and gas, and legal parliamentary committees for further in-depth discussions.”
Oil revenues, the status of disputed territories, and the KRG’s share of the federal budget are some of the outstanding issues between Erbil and Baghdad.
Ties between the two governments have notably improved since the beginning of 2019, with the formation of a new federal government headed by Iraqi Prime Minister Adil Abdul Mahdi. The governments had fallen out of favor in the aftermath of the Kurdistan Region’s historic independence referendum in September 2017.
Editing by Karzan Sulaivany