ERBIL, Kurdistan Region of Iraq – A technical delegation from the Iraqi federal government has arrived in the Kurdistan Region’s capital Erbil to discuss ongoing salary issues between Erbil and Baghdad as well as disputes over the Region’s oil exports.

The technical delegation consists of an undersecretary of the federal oil ministry, representatives of the Iraqi Supreme Economic Council, representatives of the Iraqi Financial Supervision Bureau, and representatives of both the North Oil Company (NOC) and Iraq’s State Organization for Marketing of Oil (SOMO).

They are set to meet with top officials and relevant authorities from the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG).

Kurdistan Region Prime Minister Masrour Barzani announced the delegation’s imminent visit during a presser on Wednesday, stating that the Erbil-Baghdad financial crisis may “soon” be resolved.

In late May, the Iraqi finance ministry informed the KRG that it will suspend funding the Region for the rest of 2025, claiming that Erbil had already exhausted its share of the annual budget. Baghdad’s decision, deemed “a political decision” by Kurdish authorities, jeopardizes the livelihoods of the Region’s over one million salaried workers for eight months.

Exports of the Kurdistan Region’s oil through the Turkish Ceyhan pipeline were halted in March 2023 after Ankara lost a case against Baghdad in a Paris-based arbitration court. The case accused Ankara of breaching a 1973 agreement by allowing the KRG to start selling oil independent of Baghdad.

Another high-level delegation from the federal government is set to visit Erbil in the coming days to address the issues and seek more durable solutions.