Iraq MP: Oil negotiations between Baghdad and Kurdistan are not over

The Deputy Speaker of the Iraqi Parliament, Bashir Al-Haddad, said that the negotiators on behalf of the federal government and the Kurdistan Region Government on oil files and the salaries of employees have not reached in a final agreement.

Al-Haddad told the government newspaper Al-Sabah that the two parties to the negotiations “have not reached a final agreement on oil files and the salaries of the Kurdistan region’s employees so far.”

He added: “During the last period, extensive talks and meetings have taken place between the delegation of the Kurdistan Regional Government and the federal government during which all pending files were discussed, especially with regard to the mechanism of oil export and the delivery of financial dues to the Kurdistan region on the basis of mutual understandings between the two parties. Thus, a technical committee was formed to proceed with these files.”

“We are waiting for the resumption of negotiations between the two delegations in order to complete previous talks with a view to reaching new solutions and understandings, and head towards a final agreement that will satisfy all parties.”

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During the previous weeks, two rounds of negotiations were held by the federal government and the Kurdistan Region Government to agree to a mechanism that enables the federal government to export oil produced in the Kurdistan region in exchange for guaranteed payments of the salaries of the region’s employees and Peshmerga forces.

On Wednesday, the semi-autonomous region of Kurdistan in Iraq announced that a deal had been struck with Baghdad.