ERBIL, Kurdistan Region of Iraq – The Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) has decided to give the Iraqi government a “final opportunity” to solve the outstanding financial issues between Erbil and Baghdad, coming after the party boycotted a parliamentary session over the issues on Saturday.

The KDP’s politburo, in a bid to formulate a new strategy to break the deadlock, met in Pirmam on Saturday, with current KDP leader and former Kurdistan Region President Masoud Barzani chairing the meeting.

“Today the Political Bureau of the Party convened to take the necessary position. However, today the honorable Dr. Fuad Hussein, after discussions with Iraqi political parties, returned to Kurdistan and informed the Political Bureau of the Party that the parties, political figures, and the Iraqi Federal Government have promised to resolve this issue and that the matter of sending salaries and financial entitlements of the Kurdistan Region will be resolved in the coming days,” said Barzani Headquarters in a statement on Saturday.

“Based on their request and promise, and for the sake of continuing calm dialogue and considering the situation and public interest, we deemed it appropriate to give the Iraqi Federal Government in Baghdad a final opportunity to find a way to end this issue,” the statement added.

The statement came after the KDP bloc in the Iraqi parliament opted not to attend Saturday’s parliamentary session, coming soon after a 48-hour deadline Erbil imposed on Baghdad to resolve the Kurdistan Region’s ongoing salary crisis elapsed.

“We have always believed that if there is a path for dialogue, we prefer to resolve issues through mutual understanding,” the statement professed.

The New Region learned on Wednesday that the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) notified the US that it had issued a 48-hour deadline to the Iraqi government to reach a final agreement to mitigate the effects of the crisis, warning that alternative options would have to be pursued should an agreement not be reached in time.

The KDP is the largest party in the Kurdistan Region and makes up the Kurdish government with the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK).

Former Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, as well as representatives of the Coordination Framework and the Badr Organization, wrote a letter to President Barzani urging the KDP not to withdraw from the political process in Baghdad and to show patience, adding that the Iraqi government will try to send one month's worth of pay to the Region's public sector in the coming week, The New Region reported shortly before the KDP's statement on Saturday.

Speaking on the state of the negotiations, Iraqi Oil Minister Hayyan Abdul Ghani on Saturday said that both Erbil and Baghdad “have agreed on almost all the clauses” of a prospective agreement, with the most salient outstanding dispute being the daily amount of oil granted to the Kurdistan Region to meet local demand, with the former seeking 65,000 barrels while the latter offers merely 46,000.

The recent suspension of the Kurdistan Region’s civil servant salaries by the Iraqi finance ministry has sparked outrage among the Region’s public and officials alike, who have slammed the decision as “political.”

In a letter addressed to the KRG in late May, Iraqi Finance Minister Taif Sami said that Baghdad was “unable to continue funding the Region” for the rest of the year, arguing that Erbil has already exceeded its share of the annual budget, a move prompting the Kurdish government and civil servants to file complaints to the Iraqi Federal Supreme Court against the decision by the federal government.

Last week, spokesperson of the KRG Peshawa Hawramani said that funding the salaries of the Region’s employees by the federal government is contingent upon an agreement between international oil companies (IOCs) and Baghdad for the resumption of Erbil’s exports.