Conference on ‘The Future of Iraq’ Hosted by the CoR and the United Nations
17 June 2009
Baghdad-17 June 2009- The Iraqi Council of Representatives (CoR) and the United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI) organized a two day conference in Baghdad titled ‘The Future of Iraq’ dedicated to the discussion of hydrocarbon revenue and water sharing. The conference, held on 14-15 June, was made possible with logistical support by UNOPS and funding from the European Union. This event was a continuation of previously held roundtable-discussions on federalism and hydrocarbon resources management that were held in Baghdad and Erbil between July 2008 and April 2009.
The Iraqi Ministers of Oil, Water Resources, Electricity and Planning as well as senior advisors to the Iraqi Prime Minister, the Iraqi President and the Iraqi Vice President; members of CoR, KP members; KRG officials, representatives of provincial councils, academics, members of the International Community and UN officials, took part in the two day discussions.
The participants stressed the existing broad agreement between the GoI and the KRG on the principle of revenue sharing, including automatic transfers. They also agreed that among the major outstanding issues that need to be resolved are definitive allocations of revenue to the GoI and the KRG, as well as the financing of strategic national projects by the central government.
They examined key challenges in water resources management and reviewed actions by the central and regional governments at various levels to ease the problems. They underlined the need for establishing a national council for water resources to promote coordination in water regulation and management, and launching a coherent national water strategy and legislation that would effectively address environmental needs, agricultural needs, and electricity and oil production demands. They also called for UN support towards regional dialogue on the management of the Euphrates waters.
At the end of the conference, the participants expressed a firm commitment to work towards resolving outstanding issues in the hydrocarbons file and commended the United Nations’ consistent efforts in supporting constitutional dialogue in Iraq. They urged UNAMI to continue to facilitate ministerial-parliamentary dialogue on hydrocarbon revenue sharing, and agreed on planned follow-up consultations over the summer with key actors with a possible comprehensive follow-up event after the end of the month of Ramadan.
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