The Iraqi delegation, led by Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein, who also serves as chair of the ministerial council for the economy, and Finance Minister Taif Sami, met with the Kurdistan Regional Government’s (KRG) economic council, chaired by Prime Minister Masrour Barzani.
Discussions focused on "strengthening cooperation" between the federal government and the KRG, particularly on key financial issues such as civil servant salaries, the Region's budget share, and customs and tax policies.
Baghdad has paid the salaries of the Kurdistan Region’s civil servants for seven months of this year, albeit with delays. The Iraqi government has pointed to repeated problems, such as duplicate names in the payroll list and issues with names on the Kirkuk payroll in July.
Rudaw has learned that the two sides agreed on resolving the August salary issue, as the KRG finance ministry will sent the payroll list for August to Baghdad, and the federal government would also send the salaries for August based on the verified list of July.
The two sides also agreed to form a joint committee to remove the customs checkpoints between Iraq and the Kurdistan Region. The removal of the checkpoints starts as of next week.
Trucks coming from Iraqi cities go through checkpoints ahead of entering the Kurdistan Region, the truck drivers also pay an entrance tax.
The two governments also agreed on the issue of company taxes. In the meeting, it was decided that companies in both the Kurdistan Region and Iraq would pay taxes to only one government. The company would only need to register with one government and pay taxes to the government they are registered at, ensuring that no company pays taxes to Baghdad and Erbil.
The officials also agreed to resolve pending investment issues between Erbil and Baghdad. A delegation from the Kurdistan Region’s investment board will visit Baghdad next week to discuss the issues.
The office of the KRG Prime Minister Masrour Barzani on Sunday described the meeting as taking place in "a positive environment, where opinions were exchanged sincerely… on a constitutional basis."
Erbil currently is dependent on local income sources and its controversial federal budget share.
Horvan Rafaat contributed to this report
