On Wednesday, the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) Council of Ministers called on ministers from the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) to resume their participation in government meetings, amid ongoing political tensions between the Kurdistan Region’s two ruling parties.

On Monday, President Masoud Barzani called on the PUK to sit down with the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) to resolve outstanding issues over the formation of a new regional government.

The PUK withdrew from the KRG last Thursday after the KDP, joined by lawmakers from several other political factions, reactivated the Kurdistan Parliament the previous day.

The KRG Meeting Council of Ministers convened under the chairmanship of Prime Minister Masrour Barzani to discuss several issues, including President Masoud Barzani’s call for political parties to meet, the latest outcomes of the KRG’s high-level delegation visit to Baghdad, and the terrorist attack on the Khor Mor gas field and its consequences.

The Council of Ministers welcomed and expressed its support for President Masoud Barzani’s call for political parties to meet and resolve their differences through dialogue, with the aim of strengthening the political and democratic system and the legitimate constitutional institutions of the Kurdistan Region.

The Council then discussed the recent visit to Baghdad by a high-level Kurdistan Region delegation headed by the KRG Prime Minister Barzani, and its meeting with the federal government’s high-level delegation, headed by Iraqi Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi.

Prime Minister Barzani said that, during his discussions in Baghdad, he emphasized the need to respect Iraq’s federal system and the Kurdistan Region’s constitutional status, as well as to ensure the region’s financial entitlements and fair share of the federal budget.

The KRG Council of Ministers instructed the negotiating delegation to continue discussions and negotiations on the 2027 budget and reach a fundamental, final, and fair agreement on securing salaries, financial entitlements, and the Kurdistan Region’s share of the federal budget.

In another part of the meeting, the KRG Minister of Electricity and the acting Minister of Natural Resources presented a report on the consequences of the November 8 drone attack on the Khor Mor gas field, which resulted in the suspension of gas production at the field and a reduction in the number of hours of electricity supplied to citizens.

The report also outlined the Ministry of Electricity’s efforts to compensate for part of the electricity shortfall through power generation plants operating on heavy fuel oil, diesel, hydropower, and flared gas.

KRG Minister of Interior Reber Ahmed Khalid then outlined the details of the joint security committee established by the federal and Kurdistan Regional governments to follow up on and investigate the attack. Investigations are still ongoing.

“The Council of Ministers strongly condemned the terrorist attack on Khor Mor, which aims to undermine the economic and energy infrastructure of the Kurdistan Region and Iraq, and to harm the public interests of citizens,” the KRG said in a statement. “It stressed that such attacks must be brought to an end.”