ERBIL, Kurdistan Region of Iraq – Kurdistan Region President Nechirvan Barzani met with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Ankara on Thursday, discussing bilateral ties and the importance of the resumption of the Region’s oil exports through Turkey’s Ceyhan pipeline.

The pair commended “the strong ties” between Ankara and Erbil, “expressing their willingness to enhance cooperation across various sectors, particularly in the economy, trade, and energy,” read a statement from the Kurdistan Region Presidency.

They emphasized “the importance of resuming oil exports from the Kurdistan Region to global markets via the Turkish Ceyhan Port, in line with Iraq’s economic interests,” adding that the initiative “would contribute to the peace and stability of Iraq as a whole.”

Exports of crude oil from the Kurdistan Region through the Iraq-Turkey pipeline resumed in late September after a 30-month halt, following the signing of a breakthrough agreement between Erbil, Baghdad, and international oil companies operating in the Region.

The Kurdistan Region’s oil exports through Turkey’s Ceyhan port had been halted since March 2023, when a Paris-based arbitration court ruled that Ankara had breached a 1973 pipeline agreement by allowing Erbil to start selling oil independently in 2014, awarding the case to Baghdad.

Erdogan expressed his “satisfaction” with the tripartite agreement, according to a statement by Turkey’s communication directorate, asserting that “achieving a consensus in the short term regarding the Development Road Project would benefit the entire region.”

The Development Road is a massive multi-billion dollar railways, roads, ports, and cities project which aims to shorten travel time between Asia and Europe and links the Grand Faw Port in southern Iraq to the Turkish border. The project is set to create hundreds of thousands of jobs and enhance Iraq’s geopolitical status.

The meeting further addressed strengthening bilateral ties and regional security.

“We also discussed ways to further deepen our cooperation and promote regional peace, stability and prosperity,” Barzani wrote on X.