KRG has no choice but to deal with Baghdad: Kurdish lawmaker

Erbil, Nov 6, IRNA – Iraq's Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) has no choice but to reach an agreement with the Iraqi government, Kurdish Lawmaker Amin Bakr has said. Speaking to IRNA in a recent interview, he said that making the agreement is the best way to secure interests of both Baghdad and Erbil. The Iraqi government has set the country's budget for 2017 noting that the share of the Kurdistan Region would be included based on the terms which would be agreed by Baghdad and Erbil, said the lawmaker. He added that Baghdad and Erbil succeeded to make a deal recently after President of the Iraqi Kurdistan Region Masoud Barzabi visited the Iraqi capital in September putting an end to several years of disputes between the two sides. Baghdad and Erbil officials have successfully reached agreements on issues of mutual interests including the military operation in Mosul and the issue of how to trade oil and spend its incomes. Bakr stressed that officials of the Kurdistan Region have to respect the agreement they made by Baghdad. Based on the agreement, Erbil can receive its budget from Baghdad on a regular basis if it completely observes provisions of the agreement including those related to the mechanism of purchasing oil and being transparent about its revenues. 1378/IRNA