Efforts to reduce the dispute between Baghdad and Erbil over the budget

by **claud39** Sun Feb 07, 2021 7:10 pm

[size=30]Efforts to reduce the dispute between Baghdad and Erbil over the budget[/size]

Al-Kazemi calls for investing in high oil prices to support economic reform

08 February 2021

Efforts to reduce the dispute between Baghdad and Erbil over the budget 1612710103213929500

Efforts to reduce the dispute between Baghdad and Erbil over the budget 1612710103213929500

Baghdad: «Middle East»

Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa Al-Kazemi called for the importance of investing in high oil prices in a way that contributes to easing the burden on the Iraqi citizen, and efforts are being made to reduce the dispute between the federal government and the Kurdistan Regional Government over the budget.

Al-Kazemi said during his meeting with the Finance Committee in the Iraqi parliament yesterday that «the financial budget that the government sent its draft earlier, aims at financial and economic reform and support the vital sectors, which would address a large part of the problems of the Iraqi economy that it has been suffering from for decades». .

According to the statement issued by his media office, Al-Kazemi stressed "the necessity of activating the mechanisms of automation and digital interaction, and also activating the role of the Federal Service Council, in the course of economic reform."

He also warned Al-Kazemi to "the necessity of adopting the principle of justice in distributing wealth among all regions of Iraq, in accordance with the principles of the constitution, and not to include political disputes in the file of citizen's sustenance and the level of services provided to him."

He explained that «the country is currently facing many challenges, and we are working hard to reform the current situation, and put the Iraqi economy on the right track, and it comes in implementation of the government program that the House of Representatives voted on and also included in the government white paper».

The Finance Committee said in a statement yesterday that it "rewrote the budget strategy according to a comprehensive economic vision after what came from the government with a financial vision only." The statement added that «the committee handed over a copy of the amendments that it had made to the budget to the government with regard to compressing expenditures and maximizing revenues in a scientific and thoughtful manner.

It came after a meeting with most ministers and officials through more than 300 meetings of various state institutions. The committee also indicated that work has been done to "support the private sector and take bold steps to address and support industrial, agricultural and real estate banks to achieve comprehensive development in these sectors."

Disagreements continue between the federal government in Baghdad and the Kurdistan Regional Government regarding the Kurds ’share of the budget and the mechanism for implementing the oil-for-salaries agreement. In this context, the Vice President of the Kurdistan Regional Government and the head of its negotiating delegation with officials in Baghdad, Qubad Talabani, confirmed in statements yesterday that “the region is ready to enter into an agreement with the federal government to implement all obligations, provided that the agreement is fair and feasible,” explaining that “the region’s share The real part of the federal state budget does not exceed 5% after deducting the sovereign expenses ».

He called for "re-establishing the SOMO company in a new way that guarantees the transparent management of the sale and marketing of oil, including the region's oil," while he denied "the region's agreement to sell oil to Turkey for a period of 50 years," indicating that "the agreement relates to the export of oil through pipelines in Turkish lands and marketing it to international markets.
 
Talabani said: “We have been in contact for nearly a year with Baghdad, and our current dialogues are different and multiple and not a single dialogue or a single file. In the past, the dialogues were with the federal government, which resulted in an agreement that was included in the 2021 draft budget, but now our dialogues are concentrated with the blocs.

The political issue, and the issue is currently in the hands of Parliament, and we hope that we will reach a positive result with a fair and implementable agreement at the same time.

The equation does not accept a loser or a winner ». Talabani pointed out, to the need to "move away from statements that fall under the electoral propaganda and slogans and to search for logical solutions for this stage," indicating that "the dialogues with Baghdad are positive, and are continuing with the Finance Committee in Parliament and political blocs in general, and we are close to finding an implementable solution." , And this will be a step towards building bridges of confidence between the two parties ».

In this context, Vian Sabri, head of the Kurdistan Democratic Party bloc in the Iraqi parliament, confirmed to Asharq Al-Awsat that "negotiations will continue until a final agreement is reached on the region’s share, including the issue of oil and border crossings in accordance with the constitution and applicable laws." She added that «our position is to support the commitment of the region to deliver 250 thousand barrels of oil per day to the federal government and half of non-oil revenues, and in return, the federal government is committed to paying the region’s dues according to its legal timings».

As for the deputy in the Iraqi parliament for the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, Rebwar Karim, for his part, confirmed that "the problem is that no final agreement has been reached regarding the region’s share, especially Article 11 of the draft budget that stipulates how to sell oil."

He added, "There are two visions in this regard, a vision adopted by the region, which is to sell 250 thousand barrels or deliver imports of 250 thousand barrels per day to SOMO, while there is a vision for some Iraqi forces represented in the delivery of all oil production to SOMO." Karim said, "There is no unified vision regarding the political forces in Baghdad, and therefore the discussions are still continuing."

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