ERBIL, Kurdistan Region of Iraq - Kurdistan Region President Nechirvan Barzani is set to arrive in Baghdad on Sunday for a two-day visit during which he will attend a meeting with the State Administration Coalition and later meet with Iraqi leaders.

Barzani is expected to arrive on Sunday evening to attend the State Administration Coalition meeting, a meeting that was pushed forward to Sunday given that Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia’ al-Sudani is set to visit the UK on Monday.

Barzani will be staying in Baghdad overnight and hold meetings with the Iraqi presidencies and parliamentary blocs on Monday.

Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) leader Bafel Talabani will also be in Baghdad to attend the Sunday meeting, sources told The New Region.

The visit comes after the Kurdistan Region’s Council of Ministers held an irregular meeting in Erbil on Saturday with Kurdish ministers in the federal government and heads of parliamentary blocs in the Iraqi parliament, aimed at discussing the next steps for the Kurdish representation in the political process in Baghdad amid ongoing budget issues.

Representatives of the New Generation Movement (NGM), Kurdistan Islamic Union (KIU), and  Kurdistan Justice Group (Komal) were notably not in attendance for Saturday's meeting. The blocs have a combined 14 seats in the Iraqi parliament, but no ministers in Baghdad.

The Kurdistan Region's Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) and the PUK are both part of Iraq's ruling State Administration Coalition and have two ministers each in Sudani's cabinet. 

Additionally, Kurdish lawmakers make up 62 of the Iraqi parliament's 329 seats, and also hold the post of the legislature's second deputy speaker.

The Sunday meeting comes just days after Sudani visited Tehran and discussed several topics with Iran's leadership, including the fate of Iran-backed armed groups in Iraq.