Salih, KRG deputy PM discuss outstanding issues
Iraqi President Barham Salih met on Thursday at the Presidential Palace in Baghdad with Deputy Prime Minister of the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) Qubad Talabani alongside with his delegation.
It is essential to joint efforts to find substantive and meaningful solutions to the outstanding issues between the Federal Government and the KRG based on the constitution and the law, the President stated.
The file of sharing the general budget and citizens' living conditions must never be affected by the political considerations. Therefore, the solutions can only come through serious dialogue, genuine understanding and a common desire to reach solutions based on national interest, he added.
With regard to the issues of the revenues and oil, gas law, President Salih said that it is, therefore, essential to reach understandings leading to a definitive political solution to all issues. And political differences and personal judgment need to be put aside.
He asserted that the Constitution is the legal guarantee of the rights of Iraqi citizens.
Salih declared that the issue of the employees' salaries of the KRG is a complex and sensitive issue so it needs to be urgently addressed.
He assured the KRG delegation the full commitment to transparency to settle the financial issues throughout Iraq and in KRG is required as essential.
Moreover, the budget law which established a mechanism and framework for the preservation of rights and duties needs to be relied on.
The President noted that salaries paid to employees of KRG are a constitutional right, and should remain intact, as well as keeping them beyond political disagreements that they are rights to all Iraqi citizens.