ERBIL, Kurdistan Region of Iraq - Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia’ al-Sudani is set to visit Erbil on Saturday and meet with Kurdish officials.

The premier will arrive in the Kurdistan Region capital later on Saturday and meet with Kurdistan Region Prime Minister Masrour Barzani, a source informed of the visit told The New Region.

Sudani was last in Erbil in November 2024, where he met Prime Minister Barzani and discussed an array of topics, including the Kurdistan Region’s government formation efforts following the October 20 elections.

This time, Sudani is visiting Erbil as both Baghdad and Erbil are working towards resuming the Kurdistan Region’s oil exports through Turkey’s Ceyhan pipeline.

Exports of the Kurdistan Region’s oil through the Turkish Ceyhan pipeline, where part of Kirkuk’s oil was also exported, were halted in March 2023 after Ankara lost a case against Baghdad in a Paris-based arbitration court. The case accused Ankara of breaching a 1973 agreement by allowing Erbil to start selling oil independent of Baghdad.

After the nearly two-year halt, Baghdad and Erbil eventually announced late February that they reached an agreement to resume the Region’s oil exports to the international market, but the process has yet to restart with international oil producers demanding payment surety, transparent implementation of Iraq’s budget law stipulations, and resolution of payments that are in arrears before resuming the work.

The halt in exports has dealt a major blow to Iraq and the Kurdistan Region's economy, with over $28 billion in lost revenue to date. 

In a phone call between Prime Minister Barzani and US Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Friday, both sides agreed “that reopening the Iraq-Türkiye Pipeline immediately is crucial to protecting past U.S. investments and attracting future investment.”

The Iraqi prime minister’s visit to the Kurdistan Region also comes after Iraq last week announced the date of the country’s next parliamentary elections as November 11.

But Sudani will not just be in Erbil because he is eyeing a second term as prime minister, but also to mend the rocky relations between Baghdad and Erbil.

Erbil and Baghdad have for a decade now been at loggerheads over financial issues, notably salaries of the Kurdistan Region’s civil servants.

Years of conflict and unresolved issues between Erbil and Baghdad, and economic sanctions and pressure on Erbil by federal authorities, have pushed employees in the Region to live from paycheck to paycheck. 

The crisis was further exacerbated by the halt in the Kurdistan Region’s independent oil sales.