The delegation was led by Abdallah Al Dardari, Assistant Secretary-General and Director of the Regional Bureau for Arab States, United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).
“During the meeting, the delegation briefly pointed out the purpose of their visit to Iraq and the Kurdistan Region - supporting Iraq and the Kurdistan Region to diversify their income sources rather than only depending on oil,” read the statement.
President Barzani stressed that the future of Erbil and Baghdad depends on the diversification of the economy and income sources, it added.
The Region's income heavily relies on its oil sales which have been suspended since March following an arbitration case between Turkey and Iraq over the Region’s oil.
The Region’s officials have been advised by foreign diplomats to diversify its income sources, with the Greek consul general to Erbil bringing his country’s recent recovery from a deep financial turmoil as an example that the Kurdish government can boost its revenue in this way.
Kurdistan Region has suffered from a financial crisis in recent years, related to the emergence of the Islamic State (ISIS), Baghdad’s suspension of the Region’s federal budget, dramatic drop in oil prices and the Coronavirus pandemic. This prevented the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) from paying its civil servants in full and on time. However, the recent surge in oil prices has helped the KRG’s economy to slightly recover.
