Kurdistan Government: We have no obstacles to resume oil exports and good progress in talks with Baghdad
The Kurdistan Regional Government confirmed that there are no obstacles by Kurdistan to resume oil exports, noting that the losses exceeded 10 billion dollars.
A statement from the Kurdistan Government Presidency said on Wednesday that the Kurdistan Regional Council of Ministers held a meeting under the chairmanship of Prime Minister Masroor Barzani, and in the presence of Deputy Prime Minister Qobad Talabani, where he discussed the latest developments in the oil export file, in addition to the reorganization of the affairs of retirees.
The statement stressed that “there are no obstacles on the part of the Kurdistan Region to resume oil exports.”
At the beginning of the meeting, the Acting Minister of Natural Resources, Kamal Mohammed Saleh, gave a presentation on the latest developments related to the resumption of the region’s oil exports based on the Iraqi budget law.
Saleh explained that “the ministry has fully fulfilled all its obligations with regard to the regional government,” stressing that “there are no obstacles or obstacles on the part of the Kurdistan Region to the resumption of exports and depositing proceeds in the Federal Public Treasury.”
While the head of the Cabinet of Ministers’s Office, Omid Sabah, and Council Secretary Amanj Rahim, reviewed the details of the ongoing talks with the federal government and oil companies, and pointed to “good progress on some items, while continuing efforts to resolve the remaining points, especially those related to companies.”
The statement pointed out that the Council of Ministers renewed its support for the negotiations, calling on the Ministry of Natural Resources, the Federal Ministry of Oil, the oil companies and the Iraqi Oil Marketing Company (SUMO) to “continue coordinating and negotiating in order to settle the outstanding files and reach an agreement as soon as possible, in preparation for the resumption of the export of the region’s oil.”
The regional government warned, according to the statement, that financial losses resulting from the suspension of oil exports “have exceeded tens of billions of dollars.”
In another focus of the meeting, the Council discussed the reorganization of the Public Retirement Administration Institution, based on the Iraqi Unified Retirement Law No. (9) of 2014, and the decision of the Federal Court.
The head of the Coordination and Follow-up Department, Abdul Hakim Khosrow, submitted a report in this regard, in which he stressed “the need to organize the file in line with federal laws.”
In turn, the Council of Ministers stressed the importance of taking care of the affairs of retirees, and instructed the ministries (Finance, Economy, Peshmerga Affairs, and Interior) to form a specialized joint committee as soon as possible,
which prepares appropriate procedures and mechanisms to facilitate and accelerate retirement transactions and disbursement of salaries and dues, in the civil, military sectors and the Internal Security Forces, to ensure that there is no delay in completion or disruption of the rights of retirees, as stated in the statement.