US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson told KRG Prime Minister Nechirvan Barzani that the US welcomes signs of development in talks between Erbil and Baghdad.
He said that the US pays attention to its relations with the Kurdistan Region, according to Kurdistan Regional Government’s (KRG) website.
Tillerson expressed happiness over what he called constructive meetings between the Erbil and Baghdad delegations in attempts to resolve their outstanding issues, reported Rudaw in a statement following Tillerson’s phone call with Barzani on Monday.
He described the Iraqi constitution as a means for resolving the issues and expressed his readiness to support dialogue between Erbil and Baghdad.
He also stressed continued coordination between the Kurdistan Region, Baghdad, and the United States to confront any threat in the post-ISIS phase and possible re-emergence of violence.
In his phone call with Barzani, Tillerson reiterated US support behind democratic processes and elections in Iraq and the Kurdistan Region and hoped for the KRG to overcome its crippling economic crisis.
For his part, Barzani thanked Tillerson for supporting the KRG and cautioned that there are still threatening elements that again could unleash violence.
He deemed it important for the three sides — the US, Iraq and the KRG — to work together on a current and future joint mechanism.
Barzani emphasized that the KRG was always ready for talks and dialogue with Baghdad, describing the recent Erbil-Baghdad talks as positive and stressing the importance of the role of each side in the developments in Erbil-Baghdad relations.
“Erbil counts Washington as its ally for passing the current phase, and it needs the support of its friends,” Barzani said.
He added that the political processes and elections in Kurdistan are being undertaken seriously.
Recent meetings between Baghdad and Erbil also headed the meeting, which was held Tuesday between Iraqi President Fouad Masum and his three deputies Nuri al-Maliki, Osama Najafi and Iyad Allawi.
A presidential statement said that “the agenda included the discussion of a number of important files related to the upcoming elections, the budget law and talks between the federal government and the KRG.”
The meeting praised the response to the presidential initiative, continuous talks between the ministries in the federal government and the KRG on the stalled technical aspects and understandings required to resolve all the problems.
It stressed the need to activate and intensify efforts to reach practical solutions to various aspects of the crisis in accordance with the constitutional contexts.
