Barzani to visit Baghdad to discuss battle for Mosul

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Kurdish leader Masoud Barzani is expected to visit Baghdad in the near future, meeting with the Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi and other authorities about a range of issues, most notably the looming Mosul offensive, said a Kurdish official.

“There were phone calls between Mr. Barzani and Abadi and it was discussed that the president Barzani will visit Baghdad. There are a number of topics that are going to be discussed, above all the Mosul fight,” Safeen Dizayi, the spokesperson of the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), told Rudaw.

Barzani’s visit to Baghdad comes after Erbil, Baghdad, and Washington reached an accord concerning cooperation between the Peshmerga and the Iraqi Army in the battle for Mosul during a tripartite meeting hosted by the Kurdish president on September 19. 

In late August Barzani and Abadi discussed relations between Baghdad and Erbil in a phone call and the Kurdish leader "thanked Abadi for his warm welcome of the KRG [Kurdistan Regional Government] delegation headed by Prime Minister Nechirvan Barzani, and expressed his delight with the meetings’ result and hoped that relations continue between the two,” reads a statement issued by the Kurdistan Region Presidency.

On August 29th, a top Kurdish delegation headed by Kurdish Prime Minister Barzani met with Abadi in Baghdad and reached a preliminary agreement on oil exports from Kirkuk province to the Turkish port of Ceyhan.