Iraqi Central Gov’t, KRG to Start Talks in Baghdad Tomorrow

Spokesman of Pishmarga Ministry of the Kurdistan Regional Government Jabbar Yavar told FNA that the Central government in Baghdad and the KRG are scheduled to start talks over disputed issues in the Iraqi Capital on Sunday.

“Tomorrow, on Sunday, a new round of negotiations between representatives of the central government and officials of the KRG’s Pishmarga Ministry will be held in Baghdad and its results will be announced soon afterwards,” Yavar told FNA in Iraq’s Northern city of Suleimaniyeh.

According to FNA dispatches, a political delegation comprising representatives from the Iraqi Kurdistan region and political Kurdish groups is now in Baghdad in a bid to start serious negotiations with Baghdad officials.

The two sides have differences about oil companies’ activities in Kurdistan, management of such sensitive regions as Kirkuk and Mosul, budget funding for Kurdish Pishmarga forces and the way to deal with current crisis in Syria.

Iraq’s central government has requested the French oil company, Total, to cancel contracts with the Kurdistan Regional Government, warning that the Oil Ministry in Baghdad considers them to be “illegal”.