Kurdistan Regional Government

Regional government formed in Iraqi Kurdistan in 2006 by bringing together the previously KDP controlled governerates of Dohuk and Erbil with the PUK controlled governorate of Suleimanieh.

Issues

Oil

The Kurdistan Regional Government began signing its own oil deals deals before an oil law had been agreed by the central Government angering some in Baghdad.

While the debate continues, the Kurdistan Regional Government is pushing ahead. In 2002, at the suggestion of Jalal Talabani, the Kurdish leader who is now Iraq's president, the Turkish conglomerate Cukurova Group set up an oil unit called Genel Enerji to look for oil in Kurdistan. Genel signed a production-sharing agreement in July 2002 and took over the Taq Taq oil field in February 2003 on the eve of the U.S-led invasion. It signed another exploration contract in July 2005. A Norwegian firm, DNO, and a Canadian firm, Heritage Oil, also struck exploration and production deals in the Kurdish region.

Lobbying firms retained

• Luther Pendragon

Website

• www.krg.org

People

President

• Masoud Barzani

2006 Cabinet

• Nechirvan Idris Barzani Prime Minister
• Omer Fattah Hussain Deputy Prime Minister
• Osman Haji Mahmoud Minister for the Interior
• Abdul Karim Sultan SinjariMinister of State for the Interior
• Sarkis Aghajan Mamendu Minister for Finance & the Economy
• Bayiz Saeed Mohammad Minister of State for Finance & the Economy
• Farouq Jamil Sadiq Minister for Justice
• Azad Izaddin Mala Afandi Minister of State for Justice
• Omar Osman Ibrahim (Zeim Ali) Minister for Peshmerga Affairs
• Jafar Mustafa Ali Minister of State for Peshmerga Affairs
• Burhan Saeed Sofi Minister for Transport
• Dilshad Abdul Rahman Mohammad Minister for Education
• Dr Abdul Rahman Osman Yones Minister for Health
• Adnan Mohammad Qadir Minister for Labour and Social Affairs
• Mohammad Ahmad Saeed Shakaly Minister for Religious Affairs
• Tahsin Qadir Ali Minister for Water Resources
• Imad Ahmad Sayfour Minister for Housing and Reconstruction
• Osman Ismail Hassan Minister for Planning
• Yousif Mohammad Aziz Minister for Human Rights
• Idris Hadi Salih Minister for Higher Education and Scientific Research
• Abdul-Aziz Tayeb Ahmad Minister for Agriculture
• Ms Chnar Sa’ad Minister for Martyrs and Victims of Anfal
• Falakaddin Kakeyi Minister for Culture
• Hoshyar Abdul Rahman Siwaily Minister for Electricity

Dr Ashti A. Hawrami Minister for Natural Resources

• Ms Nazanin Mohammad Waso Minister for Municipalities
• Taha Abdul Rahman Ali (Taha Barwary) Minister for Sport and Youth
• Dr Mohammad Ihsan Minister for Extra-Regional Affairs
• Mohammad Raouf Mohammad Minister for Trade
• Widad Khurshid Osman Minister for Industry
• Dara Mohammad Amin Minister for the Environment
• Nimrud Baito Minister for Tourism
• Haydar Sheikh Ali Minister for Communication
• Abubakir Ali Minister for the Region
• Dr Jinan Qasim Minister for the Region
• George Yousif Mansour Minister for the Region

Dr Dakheel Saeed Khudhur Minister for the Region

• Mohammad Haji Mahmoud Minister for the Region
• Mahmoud Eido Minister for the Region
• Madhat Mandalawy Minister for the Region
• Sa’ad Khalid Mohammad Amin Minister for the Region
• Abdul Latif Bandar Oghloo Minister for the Region