According to Baghdad Al-Yaum the two lofficials also called for solving the decreasing oil price in the meeting held on Tuesday, September 8.
“Kadhimi stressed the need for full cooperation between the federal government and the Kurdistan Regional Government on a range of issues in order to address the great challenges facing the country as a result of low global oil prices and to confront the effects of the coronavirus pandemic,” the prime minister’s office said in a statement.
Earlier in the day, Talabani and an accompanying delegation met with federal Finance Minister Ali Allwai to discuss the federal budget, which is currently being drafted by the Council of Representatives, a spokesperson for the KRG prime minister’s office said.
The two sides agreed to form technical subcommittees in order to continue talks on specific issues, including oil and gas, financial dues, electricity, border crossings, and debt.
Erbil and Baghdad are involved in a long-running dispute over revenue sharing and the Kurdistan Region’s independent oil sales.
The current crisis stems from the KRG’s failure to abide by the terms of the 2019 federal budget law, refusing to send any oil to Baghdad for export. Former Prime Minister Adil Abdul Mahdi’s government eventually retaliated in April by cutting off all budget transfers to Erbil.
Since then, the two governments have agreed to a temporary arrangement to resume some transfers, but the KRG still faces a significant budget shortfall and has resorted to cutting public sector salaries.
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