325 Policy 02/22/2021 13:03 amm
Baghdad today – Kurdistan
In a new round that the Kurdistan Regional Government is conducting, with Baghdad, to negotiate the contentious issues between the two parties, a delegation from Kurdistan will arrive today, Monday, in the capital, headed by Qubad Talabani.
An informed source said in an interview with (Baghdad Today), “The Vice President of the Regional Government, Qubad Talabani, arrives this afternoon at the head of a high-ranking Kurdish delegation that includes officials and ministers, to conduct a new round of negotiations on the outstanding issues between Baghdad and Erbil, especially with regard to the region’s share of 2021 budget.
The source added, “The new round aims to reach a final and decisive agreement between the two parties, to end many rounds of previous negotiations, which went without any announcement of an agreement between Baghdad and Erbil.”
Last Saturday, a member of the Parliamentary Finance Committee, Ahmed Hama, revealed the latest findings of the draft federal budget law for the year 2021, while the last position between Baghdad and Erbil was determined from the Kurdistan region’s share in the budget .
Ahmed Hama said, in an interview with (Baghdad Today), that “the draft budget law was completed from the professional point of view, and the issue of salaries was addressed by canceling the deductions, as well as raising the price of a barrel of oil in the budget,” pointing out that “the dollar exchange rate paragraph cannot be modified.” It should be noted that the Ministry of Finance and the Central Bank are responsible for drawing the country’s fiscal policy . ”
Hama added, “What delays the presentation of the budget for the vote is the failure to resolve the dispute between Baghdad and Erbil over the share of Kurdistan in the draft law, as a result of the difficult conditions set by the Shiite blocs, and therefore we are waiting for a consensus to be reached on this file .”
A member of the Finance Committee pointed out that “the committee worked to increase revenues in the draft law, pressure expenditures, as well as reduce the budget deficit,” stressing that “the date for submitting it to the vote depends on the agreement between the central government and the Kurdistan region .”
And a member of the Parliamentary Finance Committee, Jamal Cougar, said today, Saturday (February 20, 2021), that until now there is no political agreement to pass the 2021 budget bill this week .
Cougar said in an interview with (Baghdad Today), that “until now there is no parliamentary agreement to vote on the 2021 budget bill during this week, and the announcement of this matter is through the Presidency of the House of Representatives, as it is the only body authorized to set the date for voting on Law . ”
And he indicated, “The dispute between Baghdad and Erbil regarding the share of the Kurdistan region in the budget in 2021 is still present, despite the existence of dialogues to resolve the dispute, but it is still present, and if there were any solutions, they would have been announced, but they do not exist yet .”
The House of Representatives completed the first and second readings of the federal budget law for 2021, amid conflicting discussions and views on several paragraphs of the law, foremost among which is the size of the budget and its deficit .
The MP for the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, Hassan Ali, confirmed, Wednesday (February 17, 2021), that nothing new had happened regarding the current negotiations to reach an agreement between the governments of Baghdad and Erbil .
Ali said in an interview with (Baghdad Today), “The situation is as it is going on, and there are continuous meetings, but there are fundamental points of disagreement about two paragraphs of the budget law .”
He added, “In light of the current situation, we expect negotiations to continue for the next week, and everything will remain possible regarding the agreement, but until now there is opposition from the regional government to deliver all oil to Baghdad, which demands that all exports of the region be under its supervision .”
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