Erbil- A Kurdish high-level delegation headed by Masoud Barzani, president of the Kurdistan Region, will travel to Baghdad to discuss several topics including the battle of Mosul and Erbil-Baghdad relations.

Barzani’s Media Advisor Kifah Mahmoud told Asharq Al-Awsat that, during his visit to Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi, Barzni will head a high-level delegation that includes political parties from the Kurdistan Region in addition to a governmental delegation in order to discuss the unsolved topics between Baghdad and Kurdistan region.

“The most urgent topic to be discussed is the development of relations between the two parties in a way that ensures genuine partnership in managing the country,” added Mahmoud.

This is Barzani’s first visit since his last visit in July 2013 to discuss concerns back then. Relations were tense at the beginning of 2014 after former Prime Minister Nouri al Maliki’s government cut down the budget allocated for the Kurdistan Region and imposed an economic siege that has not been lifted until today.

The situation has not changed despite the war raged by the Kurdistan Region against ISIS and the fact that it is hosting more than one million Syrian and Iraqi refugees on its territories.

For his part, Secretary of the Kurdistan Socialist Party Mohammed Haj Mahmoud told Asharq al-Awsat that the delegation members will include senior officials from the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP), Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), the Kurdistan Islamic Union and the Socialist party.

Haj Mahmoud added, “As long as the Kurdistan Region is part of Iraq then it has duties and rights as well. However, Iraq deprived the region from its rights since years… The visit and its timing are important and will help resolve the problems between both parties.”