UNITED NATIONS, November 14 (Sputnik) — UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon welcomes the agreement on oil exports and budget payments which was reached between Iraq and the autonomous region of Kurdistan.
“The Secretary-General welcomes the agreement reached between the Government of Iraq and the Kurdistan Regional Government aimed at finding a solution to the issues related to the general budget and oil exports,” said a statement published on the UN’s official website on Wednesday.
Ban Ki-moon “congratulates Iraq's Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi and Kurdistan Regional Government's Prime Minister Nechervan Barzani for the willingness to negotiate and conclude agreements that are in the interest of the Iraqi people,” the statement said.
Acknowledging that other unresolved problems still exist in the region, the UN said that the secretary-general encouraged the federal and regional authorities to build on the first step and to solve other outstanding issues within the framework of the constitution.
The statement also noted that the United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq was ready to continue supporting this process within its mandate.
Iraqi Kurdistan, an autonomous region in the north of Iraq, has in recent months been selling oil independently, blaming Baghdad for unjust distribution of oil revenues. In response, Baghdad has cut payments to civil servants in the region.
