Latest news with #UmedSabah
Rudaw Net
09-05-2025
- Business
- Rudaw Net
KRG transfers control of digital salary payment program to finance ministry
Also in ECONOMY Iraq tells Turkey it needs more time to restart Kurdish oil exports Dana Gas says to begin production at Chamchamal field next year KRG calls for restart of Kurdish oil exports 'as soon as possible' Oil association urges renewed efforts to resume Kurdish exports A+ A- ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Kurdistan Region Prime Minister Masrour Barzani has transferred control of MyAccount, a government initiative to digitize financial services, to the finance ministry, shifting oversight away from his office, a senior official said on Sunday. The move is an apparent effort to end a long-standing dispute between the two main ruling parties over the program and pave the way for the formation of a new cabinet. 'On the basis of an order from His Excellency the Prime Minister, it has been decided to transfer the digitization process of KRG civil servants' salaries (MyAccount) to the Ministry of Finance and Economy,' read a letter from Umed Sabah, head of the KRG's Diwan. The letter also noted that 'the accounts belonging to civil servants will be protected in accordance with applicable laws and regulations enacted by the Central Bank of Iraq.' Rudaw reported on Saturday that the ruling Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) will endorse MyAccount after reaching an agreement with the Region's dominant Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) on several key points, including transferring the project to the finance ministry's jurisdiction and gaining access to the contracts signed with participating banks. MyAccount serves as the Kurdistan Region's alternative to Baghdad's Tawtin (localization) initiative, which also aims to pay public sector salaries through bank accounts instead of distributing cash. In Sulaimani, many have preferred Tawtin over MyAccount, citing skepticism about the KRG's ability to transfer federal funds received from Baghdad. The PUK had long opposed MyAccount, advocating instead for opening branches of federal banks in Sulaimani to register civil servants under Tawtin. However, the PUK's stance shifted significantly following the initiation of government formation talks with the KDP. Both parties have announced that they are very close to the announcement of a final agreement on the new cabinet, more than half a year after the Region's parliamentary elections. 'I repeatedly chanted for Tawtin during the electoral campaigns because I believed it had elements that were better than the one implemented here [MyAccount],' PUK leader Bafel Talabani said in an interview aired Saturday on his party's media. 'After extraordinary negotiations [with the MyAccount team], we identified very good points - and some that may need to be modified,' he added. 'If we reach an agreement with the KDP, we will utilize good elements from both.' Nevertheless, during the October 2024 election campaign, Talabani had declared: 'Don't register for MyAccount - it belongs to Masrour [Barzani, the Prime Minister]. Do Tawtin instead.'
Rudaw Net
20-04-2025
- Business
- Rudaw Net
KRG, Iraqi officials meet with oil companies to discuss restarting Kurdish oil exports
Also in Iraq From Russia to Jordan, cultural performances dazzle in Babil Congo-Crimean fever kills two in Kirkuk Mining is a potential '$16 trillion' industry in Iraq: Official Sadr rejects Iraqi president's appeal to join elections A+ A- ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Officials from the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), the Federal Government of Iraq and representatives of international oil companies (IOCs) operating in the Kurdistan Region met in Erbil on Saturday to discuss the resumption of Kurdish oil exports, a KRG official stated. The convening parties 'explored the possibility of resuming oil exports from the Kurdistan Region with oil companies, and the viewpoints of oil investment companies on the matter,' said Umed Sabah, president of the Diwan of Council of Ministers, in a post on X. However, a separate meeting that was set to be held in Baghdad on Saturday, between representatives of the Kurdistan Region's natural resources ministry, the Iraqi oil ministry and IOCs was postponed at Baghdad's request, Rudaw English has learned from a representative of an IOC operating in the Region. On the same day, an Iraqi Oil Ministry spokesperson, Abdulsahib al-Hasnawi, confirmed to Rudaw that the Saturday meeting would not be held. Earlier in the week, on Wednesday, Iraqi Oil Minister Hayyan Abdul Ghani had announced that 'a delegation from the Kurdistan Region's natural resources ministry would visit Baghdad on Saturday to complete the negotiation process' with his ministry on the resumption of Kurdish oil exports. 'We all hope to reach an agreement' to restart oil exports, the minister said. Kurdish oil exports, through Turkey's Ceyhan port, have been halted since March 2023. The suspension came after a Paris-based arbitration court ruled in favor of Baghdad that Ankara had violated a 1973 pipeline agreement by allowing Erbil to export oil independently. In February, the Iraqi parliament passed amendments to the federal budget law, authorizing $16 per barrel in production and transportation costs for IOCs. The step was seen as crucial to restarting Kurdish oil exports. The amended budget law also set a 60-day deadline for the Iraqi government and the KRG to establish an international consultancy body to assess those costs. Despite months of talks between Erbil, Baghdad, and IOCs, Kurdish oil exports have yet to resume. Kurdistan Region Prime Minister Masrour Barzani stated on Wednesday that Erbil has suffered losses exceeding $23 billion since the suspension of oil exports.
Shafaq News
16-04-2025
- Business
- Shafaq News
Baghdad, Erbil face make-or-break oil export meeting
Shafaq News/ A high-level meeting between Baghdad and Erbil is scheduled for Saturday to discuss the resumption of oil exports from the Kurdistan Region, a senior Kurdish official revealed. Umed Sabah, Chief of Staff to the KRG Council of Ministers, told reporters that representatives from international oil companies operating in the Region would also participate in the meeting. 'The issue of oil exports is a top priority for the KRG, and we have fulfilled all our obligations,' Sabah said during a press conference in Erbil. 'We hope discussions will move in the right direction.' Exports through the Iraq–Turkiye pipeline were halted in March 2023 following an international arbitration ruling in Paris, which found Turkiye had violated a 1973 agreement by allowing the KRG to export oil independently of Baghdad. The stoppage blocked about 450,000 barrels per day of crude, cutting off the KRG's primary source of revenue. This disruption strained the Region's finances, triggered production cuts, and increased its reliance on budget transfers from the federal government.
