Iraq/Kurdistan: Iraqi, Kurdish Officials Stress Unity on Oil Policy

Nov 21, 2014 | World Bulletin
View Original

Iraqi central government officials and Kurdish region leaders have stressed eliminating differences for a more cohesive oil policy.

"We are very optimistic about overcoming the dispute between the Iraqi government and the Kurdish region," said Adil Abdul-Mahdi, Iraq's minister of oil, speaking at the Atlantic Council Energy and Economic Summit 2014 in Istanbul on Thursday.

"We need good leadership to overcome our difficulties, and I think we have it now on the both sides," said Mahdi.

A dispute between Baghdad and Erbil over the sale of oil turned into an international legal wrangle as the Iraqi government brought suit against the Kurdish region in foreign courts. But the central government and the Kurdish region signed a temporary agreement to settle the oil dispute, clearing the way for a permanent settlement to be enacted in a joint hydrocarbon law.