The Prime Minister of the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), Masrour Barzani, and his accompanying delegation met with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken in Washington on Monday.
Barzani met with Blinken at the State Department headquarters, according to information obtained by Channel8.
The KRG delegation includes Peshmerga Minister Shorsh Ismail, the head of the Foreign Relations Office, Safeen Dizayee, the senior advisor to the prime minister, Bayan Sami Abdulrahman and the KRG Representative in Washington, Treefa Aziz.
Blinken was accompanied by the Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs, Barbara Leaf, and other State Department officials. Barzani’s visit comes as an official invitation from the State Department.
An official KRG source informed Channel8 the talks between the KRG high delegation and the State Department will focus on convincing the US to deal with Baghdad and Erbil as two separate packages, on security issues and on the withdrawal of coalition forces from Iraq.
Channel8 reported earlier that Barzani was set to discuss the issue of Peshmerga reforms and trade in his visit to Washington.
The KRG delegation has called on the United States to convince the international coalition to stay in the Kurdistan Region until the end of the Peshmerga forces’ reform process.
The source stated a proposal is being discussed to move some of the US military bases in Iraq to the Kurdistan Region, in particular, due to security threats to the bases in several parts of the country.
A source in the Ministry of Natural Resources said the issue of restarting the export of oil from the Kurdistan Region will not be included among the key topics of the meetings with senior officials from the White House. Officials have stated the issue will be resolved in Baghdad and Erbil.
The Presidency of the KRG Council of Ministers said on Saturday that Barzani and an accompanying delegation will hold several meetings in Washington with officials from the White House, Congress and the State Department.
