ERBIL, Kurdistan Region of Iraq – Talks between Erbil and Baghdad regarding a solution to the outstanding salary issue between the two governments have “passed good stages,” a source in the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) told The New Region on Wednesday.

A delegation from the Kurdistan Region’s Ministry of Finance and Economy arrived in Baghdad earlier on Wednesday for discussions with relevant authorities in the Iraqi federal government over the disbursement of the Region’s salaries.

The delegation held meetings with officials in the Iraqi government, with talks focusing on the issue of salaries, budget, domestic revenue, and the MyAccount project, said the source in the KRG’s Ministry of Finance and Economy.

The source described the meetings held by the finance ministry delegation as “positive”, adding that they are optimistic about reaching an agreement. The issue of funding civil servant salaries in the Kurdistan Region has "passed good stages," and a solution to the issue of the resumption of the Region's oil exports has "come very close."

Exports of the Kurdistan Region’s oil through the Turkish Ceyhan pipeline 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 the KRG to start selling oil independently of Baghdad.

The Kurdistan Region delegation is set to remain in Baghdad until Saturday to prepare the reports that Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia' al-Sudani requested in Tuesday’s Cabinet meeting.

During the Iraqi Council of Ministers’ meeting on Tuesday, Prime Minister Mohammed Shia’ al-Sudani reportedly requested a delegation from the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) visit the Iraqi capital to start the work of the recently formed committees, aimed at resolving outstanding issues between Erbil and Baghdad.

Sudani has reportedly granted the committee formed to investigate salary and oil disputes between Erbil and Baghdad an additional week to finalize its investigation, after receiving conflicting accounts from Finance Minister Taif Sami and Oil Minister Hayyan Abdul Ghani regarding the progress of the committee’s work. Ghani reportedly told Sudani that the committee has prepared their report, stating that 130,000 barrels of oil are produced in the Region currently, of which 50,000 are to be allocated for local consumption.

Speaking at a press conference at the Jambur oil field in Kirkuk earlier in the day, Ghani said that they have an agreement with the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) to receive the produced oil and export it after isolating 50,000 barrels per day for local consumption.
 
“Yesterday, we were in communication with the [KRG] natural resources ministry and they confirmed that production has reached around 130,000 barrels per day, and therefore we agreed with them to receive 80,000 barrels, aside from the local consumption, which will be received either today or tomorrow and collected in the tanks to be exported through the Ceyhan port, God willing,” the minister told reporters.

The New Region has learned that the next meeting of the Iraqi Council of Ministers will be pushed forward from Tuesday to Sunday in light of the upcoming Imam Hussein mourning ceremonies. The delegation aims to prepare the report and submit it to the Council of Ministers for discussion in their Sunday cabinet meeting.

The Region’s civil servant salaries for the month of May were disbursed in late July after months of deliberation between the two governments, coming after 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.

The Region’s employees have yet to receive June and July salaries as of the time of writing this article.