Hoshyar Zebari

Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) will maintain their plan to hold a referendum on independence on Sept. 25, despite a U.S. request to postpone it, a high-ranking Kurdish official told Reuters on Aug. 12.

Iraq's autonomous Kurdish region on June 8 announced it would hold a referendum on independence, in a move the central government in Baghdad is likely to oppose strongly.

"I am pleased to announce that the date for the independence referendum has been set for Monday, Sept. 25, 2017," Kurdish leader Massoud Barzani said on Twitter.

Iraq is committed to making difficult reforms to its bureaucracy and regulations for foreign companies in order to attract much-needed investment, Prime Minister Haidar al-Abadi said at a Washington forum on April 16. 

Iraq?s government will make a budget payment to Kurdish authorities ?within days,? the finance minister said, playing down concerns that an oil export deal that helped thaw bilateral relations could collapse.

Turkey’s sole oil refiner Tüpraş will begin purchasing crude oil from northern Iraq shipped by pipeline and sold by the Iraqi state’s Oil Marketing Company (SOMO), Deputy General Manager Hasan Tan said on Nov. 21.

The oil will be transported to the Turkish Mediterranean port town of Ceyhan, Tan told reporters on the sidelines of an energy conference.

The Iraqi government transferred $500 million to the autonomous Kurdish region on Nov. 19 as part of a deal aimed at ending long-running oil and budget disputes, the finance minister said.
      

Iraqi President Fuad Masum's visit to Saudi Arabia is aimed at patching up long-strained relations between the two countries as Baghdad battles jihadist militants, a senior official said Nov. 12.
      
Masum arrived in Saudi Arabia on Tuesday and met with King Abdullah, the highest-level contact between the neighbouring countries in years.
      

Turkey and Iraq vowed to leave their sour past behind them and rejuvenate their relations during an official visit to Ankara by Iraq’s foreign minister.

Iraq's Kurdish political bloc is heading back to Iraqi Kurdistan for a final meeting on Sept. 8 to decide whether to participate in the next national government, the Kurds' top negotiator Hoshiyar Zebari told Reuters.

Baghdad asked Washington June 18 to carry out air strikes on militants who attacked Iraq's main oil refinery and seized more territory in the north, amid warnings the country's future was at stake.