“The Coordination Framework held its regular meeting on Wednesday evening, during which it hosted Masoud Barzani, the leader of the Kurdistan Democratic Party, and his accompanying delegation. During the meeting, the latest political and security developments in the region and the world were discussed,” the pro-Iran Shiite bloc, which is the largest in the Iraqi parliament, said in a statement.
Barzani arrived in Baghdad on Wednesday for the first time in six years. He was received by a number of senior Iraqi officials including Prime Minister Mohammed Shia’ al-Sudani. His visit is expected to further bolster Erbil-Baghdad relations after years of thorny ties.
During the Coordination Framework meeting, all sides “stressed the importance of unifying a national position toward issues” including electing a new head of the Iraqi parliament, with efforts to elect a new speaker faltering since November when Iraq’s Federal Supreme Court ruled to revoke veteran Sunni politician Mohammed al-Halbousi’s parliamentary membership and end his tenure as speaker.
The meeting also discussed “the importance of ending the tasks of the international coalition “and working toward enduring bilateral relations.
The Iraqi government has repeatedly said it wants to end the presence of foreign military forces in the country after the US, to Baghdad’s ire, conducted several retaliatory strikes targeting state-linked armed groups that are backed by Iran.
Iraqi and American officials have held multiple rounds of talks over the future of the coalition troops in Iraq.
Around 2,500 American troops in Iraq and 900 in Syria are leading an international coalition through Operation Inherent Resolve that has assisted Kurdish, Iraqi, and local Syrian forces in the fight against the Islamic State (ISIS), which once held swathes of land in Iraq and Syria but was declared territorially defeated in 2019.
Under Sudani’s cabinet, numerous strides have been taken in relation to Erbil and Baghdad ties which had experienced ups and downs since the Kurdish government began independently exporting its oil more than a decade ago.
Baghdad-Erbil tensions reached its climax when the Kurdistan Region held an independence referendum in 2017. Barzani last visited Baghdad in November 2018.
Kurdish officials have commended Sudani for his role in bringing both governments closer.
