Baghdad and the region agreed to unify customs and ports … and these are its details
Baghdad and the region agreed to unify customs and ports … and these are its details
08/16/2020 15:42:04
{Baghdad: Al Furat News} The Minister of the Kurdistan Region for Negotiation Affairs with Baghdad, Khaled Shawani, announced today, Sunday, that an agreement has been reached between Baghdad and Erbil to unify customs and ports according to federal controls and the budget, and will continue until the 2021 budget is approved.
Shwani said in a statement, that after a series of visits by the delegation of the Kurdistan region, headed by Qubad Talabani, with the aim of obtaining financial dues for the Kurdistan region and salaries of employees, and after a number of meetings, and changing proposals and notes for 12 times, the agreement was announced between the two parties.
He added, “The negotiations witnessed a lot of ebb and flow, and the process was difficult and complex, and our efforts were seeking to secure the financial rights of the region’s employees and protect the constitutional rights of the Kurdistan region, and the agreement will be in effect until the 2021 budget law is approved, starting a new phase of negotiations on the 2021 budget.”
He explained that the agreement includes sending 320 billion dinars per month to the Kurdistan region, and it deals with a set of other files such as monitoring, auditing, a mechanism for handling many financial and economic files, and a mechanism for dealing with the revenues of border crossings under the Federal Financial Management Law No. 6 of 2019.
The amount of 320 billion dinars sent from Baghdad to Erbil is scheduled to arrive tomorrow, Monday, according to an agreement reached by the Prime Minister, Mustafa Al-Kazemi, and the President of the Kurdistan Regional Government, Masrour Barzani, in a phone call yesterday, to disburse the salaries of Kurdistan Region employees.
A source in the Kurdistan Regional Government stated that the Council of Ministers decided to send this amount to the region tomorrow.
The Ministry of Finance in the Kurdistan region currently has a liquidity of 400 billion to pay salaries, and with the arrival of 320 billion dinars, the total amount will be 720 billion, but it is still not sufficient to disburse salaries in full without deduction, as this costs the government 890 billion dinars.
An informed source in the Council of Ministers of the Kurdistan Region stated that it was decided to advance the date of the weekly session of the Council from Wednesday to tomorrow Monday, in order to accelerate the distribution of salaries for the month of March, and resolve the mechanism that will be followed, whether by keeping the current mechanism of deducting 21% of the salaries of employees and 50% for those with special grades Or adopting another mechanism.
Yesterday, Saturday, Masrour Barzani discussed, during a phone call with Prime Minister Mustafa Al-Kazemi, the outstanding issues between Erbil and Baghdad, and it was stressed that the Iraqi constitution should be the basis for resolving all existing disputes or any agreement reached, taking into account the specificity of the Kurdistan region and the public interest of the people. Iraqi.
The two sides also indicated, during the phone call, to proceed with the negotiations and the results achieved in the past months that the delegations of the two parties fought.
On the basis of these understandings and to resolve the issue of those who receive salaries in the region, and based on the current financial situation in Iraq, it was decided that Baghdad would send an amount of 320 billion dinars as part of the salaries to the Kurdistan region as soon as possible, according to a statement issued by the Kurdistan Regional Government.
The two sides also stressed the continuation of negotiations with a view to solving all outstanding problems.
alforatnews.com
