BAGHDAD — Meetings last month between representatives of Iraq's federal government in Baghdad and the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) in Erbil failed to produce any clear resolutions of their ongoing differences.

A high-level delegation from the Baghdad government visited Erbil on July 25 for talks with the newly elected government there. Discussions focused on KRG oil exports, its share of the federal budget and control of disputed, oil-rich Kirkuk. The Baghdad representatives included Oil Minister Thamer Ghadhban and Finance Minister Fouad Hussein, national security adviser Faleh al-Fayadh and the director of the prime minister's office, Mohammed al-Hashemi.

Masrour Barzani had begun his tenure as KRG prime minister by leading a senior Kurdish delegation on a visit to Baghdad on July 16, less than a week after the KRG Cabinet received a parliamentary vote of confidence. Barzani met with President Barham Salih and various ministers and parliament deputies to discuss various potential solutions to their disagreements that would satisfy all sides, especially with regard to the KRG’s inability to fulfill its oil quota under the current year’s budget. The KRG is obliged to provide 250,000 barrels a day to the federal government in return for Baghdad funding KRG employee salaries.

“The federal government praises the spirit of cooperation and understanding with the KRG and local governments to promote integration and solve all problems for the benefit of all Iraqis in line with the Constitution and the unity of our people and our country,” Iraqi Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi said in a statement after meeting with Barzani.