BAGHDAD — President Nechirvan Barzani of the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) left Erbil for the first time since taking office and headed to the Iraqi capital on June 20 to discuss several outstanding issues with the central government, especially KRG oil exports, the public budget and the situation in the disputed city of Kirkuk.

After meeting with Iraqi Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi, Barzani said they agreed to resolve outstanding issues based on the constitution and to convene a joint committee next week to negotiate oil, the budget, the peshmerga forces and Article 140 of the Iraqi Constitution, concerning a census in Kirkuk.

The most important issues addressed during the visit were Kurdish oil and KRG salaries. Baghdad has not yet received its share of KRG oil in about six months, but the federal Ministry of Finance continues to deliver salaries to KRG employees. This discrepancy has raised the ire of Arab parties, who hinted that next year's budget could depend on the economic relationship between Baghdad and Erbil.

Per its 2019 budget, the Iraqi government pledged to pay KRG employee salaries in exchange for the delivery of 250,000 barrels of oil per day to the Iraqi national oil company. But the KRG has recently abstained from delivering oil.