ERBIL, Kurdistan Region of Iraq – A high-level delegation from the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) is set to visit Baghdad soon to reach a final agreement on customs and the ongoing trade embargo with the Iraqi government, The New Region has learned. 

On Tuesday, Erbil and Baghdad reached an agreement to export Iraqi oil through the Kurdistan Region to the Turkish port of Ceyhan, with the North Oil Company (NOC) hailing the recommencement of flows through the pipeline on Wednesday as a “significant achievement.” 

The New Region has learned that a KRG delegation led by Omed Sabah, head of the KRG Council of Ministers’ office, and Cabinet Secretary Amani Raheem is set to visit Baghdad to reach a final agreement on issues related to customs, particularly the ASYCUDA system. 

Earlier in March, Kurdistan Region Prime Minister Masrour Barzani addressed Erbil’s grievances regarding customs and the ongoing trade embargo.

The premier forwarded a special letter to the Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia' al-Sudani, focused on outstanding issues regarding the customs classification system, and exports of Iraqi oil through the Ceyhan pipeline, with Baghdad pressing the Region to adopt the ASYCUDA international system in an effort to centralize customs revenues and expenditures.

A special version of the system for the Kurdistan Region was suggested by Barzani, with the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) supervising it, and Erbil retaining the customs revenues and forwarding 50 percent of it to Baghdad within the framework of the Erbil-Baghdad budget agreement, per Barzani's proposal.

The New Region has learned that the US Treasury Department and the Central Bank of Iraq have endorsed Barzani’s proposal; however, Sudani has not agreed to the proposition and instead asserted that the implementation of the ASYCUDA system must be under the Iraqi government’s control.

Sudani also refused to lift existing checkpoints between the Kurdistan Region and federal Iraq, which was another request put forth by Barzani in the case of the implementation of the system in the Region.

Currently, three customs checkpoints have been established in Mosul, Kirkuk and Diyala, which restrict the export of local produce and goods from Kurdistan to Iraqi cities.

Erbil and Baghdad have been at loggerheads over the implementation of the ASYCUDA international customs system. The Iraqi government has implemented the system and is forcing the KRG to do the same, although Kurdish authorities have requested more time.

Baghdad, however, has taken measures against Kurdish traders by limiting their access to US dollars. It has also imposed a trade embargo on the Kurdistan Region.