Talks between Erbil and Baghdad will continue, KRG Prime Minister Nechirvan Barzani said after his second meeting with his Iraqi counterpart since Kurdistan’s vote for independence last September.
He is hopeful that final agreements may be reached on the issues of paying KRG civil salaries and lifting the international flight ban on the Kurdistan Region’s airports before Iraq’s May 12 elections.
The long-disputed matter of oil will likely take more time, however.
He is hopeful that final agreements may be reached on the issues of paying KRG civil salaries and lifting the international flight ban on the Kurdistan Region’s airports before Iraq’s May 12 elections.
The long-disputed matter of oil will likely take more time, however.
We had a range of meetings on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos. We had a short meeting with Mr. Prime Minister al-Abadi. We also held meetings today with the US Secretary of State. In these two meetings, which were crucial, we talked about things that have been done up to now and also the committees that have been formed between both sides. The questions of airports, salaries, and dams were discussed.
We again agreed in that meeting to hold further meetings, particularly on the question of oil. We have agreed to hold another meeting next week in order to reach some solutions. As a matter of fact, we cannot expect all the resolutions to be reached at the same time. The problems are big. But we believe that, before the elections are held, some significant questions such as airports, salaries, God willing, will be resolved.
We would be grateful if you could give us an idea of concrete results of the meetings and with whom you are scheduled to meet next week?
Our programs will continue tomorrow as well. We will have some meetings tomorrow as you are certainly aware of. But I cannot say with whom exactly we will meet tomorrow.
What concrete results? I would assess that the results of the meetings were generally very good. We had good meetings. This conference itself is an opportunity to be able to meet with other sides and Europeans and those attending it on the sidelines of the conference. One cannot expect something big coming out of the meetings, but the important thing is that it becomes an attempt to meet some people, exchanging your points of view with them.
The people of Kurdistan expect a promising response from you on how Baghdad will resolve the question of salaries and the reopening of airports. Baghdad has said you have agreed for all the oil to be handed over to Baghdad.
What has come out from their statement is actually far from the truth. We have not even hinted at these things. We also delivered our concerns [to them], saying they did not have to issue this statement because we have not in fact talked about these things and none of these things were talked about. It is unfortunate that they published it in this way. The Kurdistan Region’s stance is very clear. The Kurdistan Region wants to resolve its problems within the framework of the Iraqi constitution. We have said this in the past and reiterated it again here. We spoke also in this way with the [Iraqi] prime minister.
What was the significance of the meeting you had with the US Secretary of State?
The meeting was certainly important. We talked about our meeting and steps we have taken with Baghdad up to now. He certainly said it was a good opportunity. We will discuss them later with Baghdad. He was optimistic that we [Baghdad and Erbil] will eventually reach a result.
It is reported that Abadi and US President Donald Trump will meet. Is that true?
I do not know. I am not aware of that. We have no plans to meet Trump.
As you will soon reach an agreement with Baghdad, is it necessary to hold another meeting with Abadi next week to completely hammer out an agreement?
We hope we will reach an agreement. We will not miss any opportunity to achieve a result which will be in the interest of the Kurdistan nation and Iraq.
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