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Prime Minister Masrour Barzani and KRG delegation (right) meeting with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken (left) in Washington DC on February 26, 2024. Photo: KRG
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) Prime Minister Masrour Barzani on Monday met with the United States Secretary of State Antony Blinken in Washington DC, discussing the latest developments in Iraq, the Kurdistan Region's challenges, and US-KRG bilateral relations.
Prime Minister Barzani arrived in Washington DC on Sunday, heading a KRG delegation, upon an official invitation from the US. The visit’s agenda features high-level meetings at the White House, the State Department, and Capitol Hill.
The two leaders discussed “protecting the security of the Kurdistan Region, resolving the budget issues, providing the financial entitlements and constitutional rights of the Kurdish people, respecting the federal system and the constitutional structure of the region, and protecting the rights of the Kurdistan Region’s minorities,” according to a statement from the KRG, which added that “the resumption of the Kurdistan Region’s oil exports, and the implementation of the Shingal agreement” were also discussed.
Before the meeting, Blinken hailed the US’ partnership with the Kurdistan Region, reiterating Washington’s support of Erbil.
“Our support for a resilient KRG is integral to our 360-degree approach to Iraq. And so the opportunity today to reaffirm this support, reaffirm this partnership and the work that we’re doing together I think is important and timely,” a US State Department transcript quoted Blinken as having told journalists.
The two leaders met last month on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos, just a day after Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) struck the Kurdistan Region’s capital of Erbil with ballistic missiles. Blinken said at the time that Washington takes the attacks on Erbil "seriously.”
“Secretary Blinken expressed support for constructive collaboration between the Iraqi government and the KRG as well as greater unity within the IKR [Kurdistan Region] to advance stability and economic prosperity for all of Iraq’s people,” US State Department Spokesperson Matthew Miller told Rudaw’s Diyar Kurda.
The meeting comes less than a week after Iraq’s Federal Supreme Court ruled that the Kurdistan Region must hand over all its oil and non-oil revenues to Baghdad. The court also abolished the “unconstitutional” minority quota seats in the Region’s legislature, effectively rejecting their legitimacy.
Both Barzani and Blinken “agreed that the decisions of the Federal Court and the steps against the Kurdistan Region and the federal system in Iraq are worrying and the constitutional structure of the Kurdistan Region, the federal system and democratic principles in Iraq should be respected,” according to the KRG statement.
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