Iraq's Kurds have struck an oil-sharing deal with Baghdad, bringing a long-standing dispute to an end and paving the way for a more united country.
According to NPR, Iraqi Finance Minister Hoshyar Zebari, a Kurd, announced that 550,000 barrels of oil will be sent to the Iraqi oil ministry and 250,000 barrels per day will be exported via pipeline directly to the Iraqi national State Organization for Marketing of Oil (SOMO) in Turkey.
In exchange for the oil — which the semi-autonomous Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) said it needed for paying government employees, funding public infrastructure, and to continue fighting Islamic State militants — the Kurds will receive a share of the national budget allotted to them but recently withheld over the oil dispute.
The 17-percent share was worth roughly $12 billion in 2013. As part of the agreement the Kurds will also receive and extra $1 billion to equip the military.
"This deal is a win-win for both sides," said Zebari.
"The [Kurdish government] needed more stability in its relations with Baghdad and the Iraqi [central] government is going through very serious financial difficulties because of the drop in oil prices, and because of... spending that has been taking place, so really we are struggling to increase oil production."
In reaching a deal with the Kurds, Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi, who has been in power for less than three months, has succeeded where his predecessor Nuri Kamal al-Maliki had failed.
"The new team, under Abadi, is a cooperative team, a positive team," said Zebari.
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