January 21, 2006
The supreme interest of the people of the Kurdistan
Region, today more than at any other time, requires
that its citizens further unite their energies and
capabilities.
We face serious and delicate issues in the period
ahead when the future of the Kurdistan Region will
be decided as we move through the development of a
democratic and federal Iraq.
We must secure and guarantee the historic
achievements of our people and the realization of
our full and just rights by putting in place and
implementing the permanent Constitution,
establishing a genuine federal and democratic Iraq;
restoring Kirkuk, Khanaqin, Sinjar, Makhmour, and
other Arabized areas to the embrace of the Kurdistan
Region, and developing and growing the democratic
experience in the Kurdistan Region with further
strengthening of stability and liberty through the
creation of a lasting unification of the Kurdistan
Regional Government.
For these reasons, The
Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) and the Patriotic
Union of Kurdistan (PUK), on the basis of
partnership, consensus and equity, agreed to the
following: |
Iraqi President Jalal Talabani (L) and Kurdistan
regional president Massoud Barzani
Photo: Archive |
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1. A new post of Vice President of the Region
will be established by amendment to the Law of the
Presidency of the Region. The Vice President will be
from the PUK and will also serve as the Deputy
Commander-in-Chief of the Peshmerga forces of the
Kurdistan Region.
2. The Prime Minister and his Deputy will be
identified by the Kurdistan National Assembly (KNA)
and will be charged by the President of the
Kurdistan Region with forming a joint cabinet. The
Prime Minister will submit the names of his cabinet
to the KNA.
3. The Speaker of the KNA will be from the
PUK and the Prime Minister will be from the KDP
until the next election of the KNA at the end of
2007. For the next election, the KDP and PUK will
participate in a joint slate as equals, and at that
time the post of the Speaker of the KNA will go to
the KDP and the Prime Minister will be from the PUK.
This will be for two years. After that, the KDP and
PUK will rotate the posts of Speaker and Prime
Minister. If by the end of 2007 elections are not
conducted due to delay, the posts of Speaker and
Prime Minster will rotate.
4. If either of the ministerial blocs
withdraws from the joint cabinet, the entire cabinet
will be considered as resigned.
5. The ministerial posts will be divided as
follows:
a) The Ministers
of Interior, Justice, Education, Health, Social
Affairs, Religious Affairs, Water Resources,
Transportation, Reconstruction, Planning, and Human
Rights will be from the PUK.
b) The Ministers
of Finance, Peshmerga Affairs, Higher Education,
Agriculture, Martyrs, Culture, Electricity, Natural
Resources, Municipalities, Sports and Youth, and
Minister of Region for the affairs of areas outside
the Region will be from the KDP.
c) The remaining
ministries will be assigned to other parties of the
Kurdistan Region.
d) The
Ministries of Finance, Peshmerga Affairs, Justice,
and Interior should unite within one year. These
four ministries, until they unite, will have both a
cabinet minister and a minister of the region for
the affairs of the concerned ministry. Each minister
will have responsibility for the part of the
ministry which is currently under their control.
6. The budget of 2006 will be managed as it
has been decided, but the share of the budget of the
Presidency of the Kurdistan Region, the KNA, the
Council of Ministers, and the Judicial Council, and
any other joint items from each side will be
allocated equally.
Afterwards, in the coming years, the Kurdistan
regional budget will be prepared by the unified KRG
and submitted to the KNA. After approval, the budget
will be allocated to various areas according to
population percentage and agreement within the
unified KRG.
7. Under the auspices of the Presidency of
the Kurdistan Region there will be established a
Supreme Commission to institutionalize the police
and security agencies of the Kurdistan Region. These
united agencies will be removed from political
considerations. After the unified KRG takes office
in the capital of the Kurdistan Region, Erbil, a
special program will be instituted for university
graduates with the aim of recruiting new candidates
to the security services of the governorates for the
sake of unification and re-establishment of these
important agencies for our people.
8. The KRG representations abroad, according
to agreement of both the KDP and PUK, will be
assigned by the Prime Minster and his Deputy.
9. In all the Governorates of the Kurdistan Region a
joint committee will be established between the KDP
and PUK to resolve issues as they may arise.
10. Both sides, KDP and PUK, will present Mr.
Jalal Talabani as their candidate for the sovereign
post in the Iraqi Federal Government.
Masoud Barzani, President, KDP
Jalal Talabani, Secretary General, PUK
www.krg.org
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