The disagreement between parliamentarians from Iraqi President Jalal Talabani's PUK and Massoud Barzani's Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) surfaced at a special parliamentary session last Tuesday when PUK deputies left the assembly in protest, pukmedia noted in its report posted from Arbil on Monday.While deputies of the KDP -- whose leader Barzani is also head of the autonomous Kurdish region in northern Iraq -- wanted to push for the draft's approval, PUK deputies had reservations as they believed that approval of the draft, given that it is still being debated by the central government, might lead to straining relations with Baghdad.
However, PUK deputies were persuaded that the draft needed to be discussed and approved shortly, pukmedia.com said, and added that PUK deputies would vote in favor of the draft at today's session. The draft law, which concerns control over Iraq's huge oil reserves, has been submitted to the central parliament, but the 275-seat legislature has yet to debate it.
Most of Iraq's proven oil reserves are located in the Shiite south and the Kurdish north. Iraq sits on the world's third-largest oil reserves, and officials have been struggling since last year to finalize the draft law, which is vital for Iraq to attract investment from foreign firms to boost its oil output and rebuild its economy.
Benzer Haberler 
Diplomacy
