On day two of the Sulaimani Forum 2023, KRG Deputy Prime Minister Qubad Talabani said the council of ministers [of KRG] had passed the budget law, a crucial step. However, there are observations on the law, but it has passed.

“We are a quarter of the way there,” Talabani added. According to KRG law, the budget shall be approved in the national assembly divided along multiple lines in the past few years.

The DPM noted that half of the budget law is implemented, and the country has a lot of money; if shared equitably, it would be a significant step forward. Talabani also questions the fair distribution of previous KRG budgets. For the past few years, Sulaimani and Halabja provinces have needed more funds from Erbil.

Talabani said, “ We need to finalize, once and for all the oil policy in this country, and we have fallen short of addressing the oil issue.” The Erbil-Baghdad dispute has now boiled down the oil law that remains to be addressed.

“We will never address the financial problems between Kurdistan and the rest of the country until we have an oil law, an oil law that is very explicit, in terms of roles and responsibilities of everyone involved. We are in charge of extracting the oil, who’s in charge of exporting the oil, and who’s in charge of selling the oil, and then who’s in charge of receiving the money, and who’s in charge of distributing that money, hopefully equitably.” Talabani said in answering a question about the Erbil-Baghdad disputes.

The Kurdistan region has been barred from getting its budget share since 2014. The reasons are essentially the KRG’s handling of its oil sector, which Baghdad strongly disagrees with.

In the meeting, which was also attended by Qubad Talabani, the Supervisor of President Mam Jalal's Secretariat Office, and Darbaz Kosrat Rasul, a member of the Executive Board of the Political Bureau, they emphasized their commitment to working together, sincere partnership, and resolving disagreements in accordance with the Constitution.

"We must come to a resolution, and there is no justification for not doing so. Wasting time serves no one's interests, and the conflicts must be resolved," said President Bafel.

Sudani said Iraq and the Kurdistan Region have reached an agreement regarding 2023 budget law and that “the strength of the Kurdistan Region is the strength of Iraq.”

The 2023 budget law project will help in resolving all outstanding issues between the Kurdistan Region and Iraq, he added.

Sudani stated a government program has been drafted to promote and develop Iraq and a three-year draft budget law has been prepared. 

The Iraqi PM also spoke about the decision to formally recognize Halabja as a province, stating the decision was made two days ago. He added the government would continue to serve Halabja along with other provinces in Iraq.

In a speech she delivered during the 7th Sulaimani Forum, the head of the UN Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI) highlighted the challenges facing the Iraqi government since the fall of Saddam Hussein's regime, citing a 20-year-long history of external interventions, sectarianism, ISIS war, the COVID-19 pandemic, and climate change.

"Only by focusing on the systemic concerns would it be possible to revive public trust. I warned that simmering anger boils over easily, and that failure to act will inevitably lead to a new cycle of violence," she said.

UNAMI chief also said, high oil prices cannot keep the country afloat.

"Drivers of instability in the country's more recent past, remain to a large extent the same, resulting in a pattern of recurring crisis and this include entirely systemic corruption, weak governance, poor service delivery, unemployment, and over-reliance on oil."

Hennis-Plasschaert expressed confidence that Iraq has the capacity to overcome these challenges and that the formation of the current federal government provides an opportunity to do so, but stressed that this requires coordination, joint work, and commitment from all parties in the country.

The UN envoy called on both Erbil and Baghdad to resolve their disputes and outstanding issues through dialogue and in accordance with the country's permanent constitution.

Dohuk's main bazaar on Tuesday was buzzing with shoppers who came to buy traditional Kurdish costumes.

"Indeed, all Kurds love the Kurdish costume. We like to wear it and that’s why we came to the bazaar today," said Biaf Saeed, a shopper.

Newroz in Kurdish, or Nowruz in Farsi, means "New Day" and marks the beginning of spring and a new year.

The festival holds political importance for the Kurds, as it symbolizes Kurdish culture.

The holiday, dating back to at least 1700 B.C. and incorporating ancient Zoroastrian traditions, is the most important event in the Iranian calendar and for Kurds in the region.

It symbolizes the passing of the dark season and the arrival of the season of light.

This year however, Newroz coincides with the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan.

Ramadan needs its own shopping budget as households prepare for family gatherings and festive get-togethers with friends.

"This creates some (financial) burden on people, but it's necessary. Even if I don't shop for myself or for my wife, I have to come to the bazaar and shop for the kids," said shopper Dilgesh Ihsan.

Newroz is also celebrated in Turkey and Syria, among other countries.

On March 21, the Kurds head to the mountains and valleys, wearing their colorful costumes to mark the event.

Climate change for years has compounded the woes of the troubled country. Droughts and increased water salinity have destroyed crops, animals and farms and dried up entire bodies of water. Hospitals have faced waves of patients with respiratory illnesses caused by rampant sandstorms. Climate change has also played a role in Iraq’s ongoing struggle to combat cholera.

“More than seven million citizens have been affected in Iraq ... and hundreds of thousands have been displaced because they lost their livelihoods that rely on agriculture and hunting,” Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani said in a speech to open the two-day Iraq Climate Conference in Basra.

Al-Sudani said the Iraqi government is working on a national plan to tackle climate change that consists of a series of measures it hopes to take by 2030. The plan includes building renewable energy plants, modernizing inefficient and outdated irrigation techniques, reducing carbon emissions, combating desertification, and protecting the country’s biodiversity.

Among the projects is a massive afforestation initiative, where Iraq would plant 5 million trees across the country. Iraq also hopes to provide one-third of the country’s electricity demand through renewable energy instead of fossil fuel.

Al-Sudani said he is hoping to organize a regional conference on climate change in Baghdad in the near future as well.

Developments in neighboring countries have also compounded Iraq’s water woes.

Iraq relies on the Tigris and Euphrates rivers for nearly all of its water needs. They flow into the country from Turkey and Iran. Because those countries have constructed dams that have either blocked or diverted water, shortages have worsened in Iraq.

Climate change and its impact on Iraq’s water resources and agriculture also comes at an economic cost, destroying people’s livelihoods and making it more likely for Iraq to hike up its imports for basic staples that were once heavily produced in the country, such as wheat. The government once subsidized seeds, fertilizer and pesticides to soften the blow of increasing costs on wheat farmers and maintain a high level of production, but slashed them two years ago.

Turkish Coast Guard Command said on Saturday, the bodies of five migrants, who appeared to have gone missing after the water leaked into their boat, were recovered during search operations.

On the beaches of Çeşme and Dikili, 60 illegal immigrants arrested while trying to return from Greece; eight of the rescued migrants were on the beaches of Çeşme district and 32 were on the beaches of Dikili district.

Ten migrants, one of them a child, were also rescued off the coast of Aydin province.

Meanwhile, the National Federation of Iraqi Refugees in Turkey said 44 migrants were arrested in Didim area of Aden on March 8 while trying to cross into Greece.

More than 50 boys aged 11-17, some with parents hailing from Britain, France, Germany or the United States, live at the heavily guarded Orkesh rehabilitation center near the city of Qamishli, close to the Turkish border.

Opened six months ago, it is the first facility seeking to rehabilitate foreign boys in the Kurdish administered northeast, where prisons and camps are packed with thousands of IS group relatives from more than 60 countries.

Another center opened its doors in 2017 to rehabilitate young former ISIS militants.

The success of the centers are crucial to "saving the region from the emergence of a new generation of extremists," said Khaled Remo, co-chair of the Kurdish administration's office of justice and reform affairs.

Some of the boys wearing tracksuits played table football in one of the rooms, while others kicked around a ball outside in the sun, talking to one another in broken Arabic.

Once the boys turn 18, they will need a new rehabilitation programm or for their home countries to take them back.

"We don't want the kids to stay permanently in these centers, but diplomatic efforts are slow, and many children need rehabilitation," Remo said.

Kurdish-led forces, supported by a US-led coalition, spearheaded the fight against IS in Syria, driving the group from its last redoubt in the country in 2019.

Tens of thousands of people, including relatives of suspected militants, have been detained ever since in the Kurdish-controlled Al-Hol and Roj camps, including around 10,000 foreigners in Al-Hol alone.

While girls are also in the camps, this rehabilitation center focuses on boys because they would be who IS remnants -- now in hideouts in the desert -- would recruit to fight if they could, Remo said.

Several young people in Zakho are working on technology projects and are seeking support from the city administration and the government to continue and develop their talents.

Handren is a young man from Zakho who has been working on a big project for three months. He developed an airport surveillance radar that can be used to protect the airports.

“If an international airport is opened in Duhok, we can use this equipment,” he said.

Besides the project developed by Handren, another 40 projects were displayed during Zakho’ Technology Festival.

Talabani stated that the project is part of the efforts to virtualize the institutions and provide better services. Initially it will be operated at five governmental institutions.

After the implementation of the Single-Window project, citizens can fulfil their transactions in the easiest way and with the least routine, and it prevents corruption.

“I am pleased to launch this important project that is part of our duty to better serve citizens,” Talabani said during a visit to the building of Sulaimani province.

In the future, other offices in the provinces and autonomous administrations must implement the same project, he added.

“Through this system, the employee submits the transaction from a single window and receives the results, the employee executes the whole transaction and does not need the employee to go to several rooms, reducing routine and preventing corruption,” Talabani said.

Places that are operating with a Single-Window system from today will include; Sulaimani Province, Income Tax Directorate, Social Security Directorate, Missing Persons Police Directorate, Corporate Tax Directorate.

A last-ditch deal aimed at averting a split of the opposition vote will see CHP chief Kemal Kilicdaroglu name the popular mayors of Istanbul and Ankara as vice presidents should he end Erdogan's two-decade rule.

"We would have been eliminated had we split up," Kilicdaroglu told huge crowds of cheering supporters after emerging from hours of tense talks.

Erdogan faces the fight of his political life in what many view as Turkey's most consequential election since its birth as a post-Ottoman republic 100 years ago.

The 68-year-old leader needs to overcome the twin hurdles of an economic crisis and that aftermath of a devastating earthquake as he seeks to extend his Islamic style of rule until 2028.

Opinion polls point to a tight race that remains far too close to call.

But Erdogan's task had appeared to become a little easier when one of the main leaders of the six-party opposition alliance walked out of the talks on Friday.

The German minister was received by Dr. Mirza Danayi, director of the House of Coexistence and was given a tour of the building.

The house is a cultural and social centre that represents the different ethnic groups living in Sinjar in the Nineveh governorate.

The German army is part of the global coalition that was created to fight the Islamic State group, and has a presence in the Kurdish region of Iraq.

In October, the German parliament voted to extend its military presence in Iraq, which is mainly based in the northern region.

Baerbock arrived in Iraq on Tuesday and held a joint press conference with her Iraqi counterpart Fuad Hussein.

UNESCO chief Audrey Azoulay was to visit reconstruction projects and meet top officials including Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani and President Abdel Latif Rachid.

Years of war and insurgency have taken a heavy toll on Iraq's many Mesopotamian, Islamic and Christian treasures including six UNESCO World Heritage sites.

"This visit is dedicated to reconstruction in Iraq," said a spokesman for the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization which funds several projects in Iraq.

Iraq's antiquities have been extensively looted, often by organised crime groups, since the 2003 US-led invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein.

The national museum in Baghdad, which displayed many ancient relics, was not spared during the invasion when many treasures were stolen.

More damage was done during the brutal rise of the Islamic State group a decade later and the battle to dislodge it which devastated large areas in the northern city of Mosul.

UNESCO will examine how to help Iraq maintain its ancient heritage and put the spotlight back on its culture, the agency's spokesman told AFP.

Azoulay will on Monday tour Iraq's national museum and the historic centre of Baghdad, including the famed Al-Mutanabi streets, home to generations of booksellers.

Iraq saw the rise and fall of pre-Islamic civilisations, including Babylon in ancient Mesopotamia -- often dubbed the cradle of civilisation, where writing first flourished.

UNESCO has also declared natural heritage sites in Iraq, including the southern marshlands fed by the Euphrates and the Tigris rivers.

The vast wetlands have also been put at severe risk, including by draining under Saddam's regime and by climate change and upstream dam construction.

Azoulay will on Tuesday visit Mosul where UNESCO funds major reconstruction projects.

On Wednesday she will head to Arbil, capital of the autonomous region of Kurdistan and home to an ancient citadel that is also a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

He is also expected to pay a visit to the Kurdistan region.

Austin, whose visit came just days before the 20th anniversary of the U.S.-led invasion that ousted Saddam Hussein, said in statement later that he held talks with Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia Al-Sudani and Defense Minister Thabet Muhammad Al-Abbasi.

Austin was greeted on touchdown in Baghdad by Maj. Gen. Matthew McFarlane, the U.S. commander in Iraq,which is home to hundreds of American troops helping in the fight against the militant Islamic State group.

Austin also said that U.S. forces are ready to remain in Iraq at the invitation of its government, adding that these forces are operating in a non-combat and advisory role in support of the “Iraqi-led fight against terrorism.”

“This is a critical mission and we’re proud to support our Iraqi partners,” said Austin, one of the most senior Biden administration officials to visit Iraq in recent years.

Since the U.S.-led invasion in 2003 that removed longtime dictator Saddam from power, Iraq has been a point of friction between the United States and Iran. Tehran has widely expanded its influence in Iraq over the past 20 years.

“We continue to believe that Iraq’s greater integration with its Arab partners in the region will deliver increased stability, security and prosperity, and it will pay dividends not only for Iraqi citizens, but for all people of the region,” Austin said, referring to Iraq improving its relations with Arab countries.

Despite their defeat in Iraq in 2017, IS militants and their sleeper cells are still launching attacks in the country, as well as in neighboring Syria. IS has killed and wounded dozens of Iraqi troops over the past months.

In a related issue, the U.S. has been urging countries around the world to repatriate their citizens from al-Hol camp in northeast Syria,home to tens of thousands of Syrians and Iraqis crowded into tents in the fenced-in camp.

Nearly 20,000 of them are children; most of the rest are women, wives and widows of IS fighters.

A separate, heavily guarded section of the camp known as the annex houses an additional 10,000 people — including 2,000 women from 57 other countries, considered the most die-hard IS supporters, along with about 8,000 of their children.

Iraq has repatriated more than 500 women and children from al-Hol over the pastfewweeks.

“Military action alone won’t ensure the enduring defeat of Daesh,” Austin added.

“So let me recognize the Iraqi government’s ongoing repatriations of Iraqi citizens from northeast Syria.”

Reading from a statement to gathered reporters,Austin said all countries with citizens in the detention facilities and displaced persons camps in northeast Syria “must take similar steps.”

He said the U.S. stands ready to continue supporting Iraq and all countries working to repatriate their citizens.

But the specialist retail stores that dominate alcohol sales in the virtual absence of bars or licensed restaurants remained open for business, at least in Baghdad, an AFP correspondent reported.

Public alcohol consumption is frowned upon in mainly Muslim Iraq but beverages can be readily purchased from liquor stores, many of them run by Christians or other non-Muslims.

The new legislation, which bans the sale, import or production of alcohol, was originally approved by parliament in 2016 but only became law following its publication in the official gazette on February 20.

"The General Customs Authority has given orders to all customs centres to ban the entry of all types of alcoholic drink," the authority said in a statement.

The new law sets fines of between 10 million and 25 million dinars ($7,700-$19,000) for violations.

But it contradicts a government decree adopted less than a week earlier on February 14, setting duty at 200 percent on all imported alcoholic drinks for the next four years.

The legislation has drawn sharp criticism from rights activists and lawmakers representing Iraq's dwindling non-Muslim communities.

Earlier this week, five members of parliament from the Christian bloc appealed to the federal Supreme Court, arguing that the ban was unconstitutional because it failed to respect the rights of minorities, lawmaker Duraid Jameel told AFP.

Yazidi activist Murad Ismael underlined in a tweet that even though non-Muslim faiths do not ban alcohol, "the legislation imposes the same restrictions" on their followers as on Muslims.

Mustafa Saadoon, of the Iraqi Observatory for Human Rights, said the alcohol ban formed part of a "comprehensive package aimed at restricting freedoms".

He recalled a spate of arrests last month targeting "decadent content" posted on social media platforms.

Baghdad estate agent Sarmad Abbas, 44, said the ban would merely push alcohol sales onto the back market.

He acknowledged that Muslim teachings banned the consumption of alcohol. "But these are personal freedoms that you cannot forbid citizens from practising," he added.

Although the alcohol ban is a federal law, it is unlikely to apply in Kurdistan region, which operates its own customs posts on the northern border with Turkey.

The UN chief's visit, his first to Iraq in six years, comes as the war-torn country prepares to mark the 20th anniversary of the toppling of longtime dictator Saddam Hussein in a US-led invasion.

During a meeting with Dr. Latif Rashid Iraq’s President, Guterres praised the state of security and stability in the country and the efforts made by the President to alleviate the suffering of the displaced.

Guterres said he wanted to demonstrate "solidarity with the people and the democratic institutions of Iraq and a solidarity that means that the United Nations is totally committed to support the consolidation of the institutions in this country".

He said he also wanted to express his "confidence that Iraqis will be able to overcome the difficulties and challenges they still face through an open and inclusive dialogue".

Guterres, who arrived late Tuesday, is due to hold talks with Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein, before meeting Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani, President Abdel Latif Rashid and parliament speaker Mohammed al-Halbusi, the foreign ministry said.

The three leaders are respectively Iraq's top Shiite, Kurdish and Sunni Arab officials under the sectarian power-sharing system established after the US-led invasion toppled Saddam's Sunni Arab-dominated regime.

Guterres will also meet representatives of women's and youth rights groups.

On Thursday, he will visit a camp for displaced people in the north of the country, before heading to Kurdistan regional capital Arbil for talks with Kurdish officials.

He will then travel on to Qatar, where he will attend the summit of the Least Developed Countries.

The UN chief's last visit to Iraq was in spring 2017.