Kurdistan Region President Nechirvan Barzani said Saturday that negotiations between the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) are continuing as political efforts advance toward forming a new Kurdistan Regional Government.

Speaking at a press conference, Barzani said meetings between the two major Kurdish parties remain ongoing and expressed hope that the talks will result in an agreement that serves all communities across the Kurdistan Region.

The negotiations come as the two parties continue efforts to reach political understandings needed to form the next regional government.

Barzani also addressed the Kurdistan Region’s financial entitlements amid preparations for Iraq’s federal budget, stressing that Baghdad must take the Region’s constitutional and financial share into account.

He called for closer coordination between the federal government in Baghdad and the Kurdistan Regional Government, saying the financial issues require serious political discussions between the two sides.

According to Barzani, committees from Baghdad and Erbil have already begun negotiations. However, he cautioned that technical discussions alone would not be sufficient to resolve the outstanding financial issues.

He said the key objective should be ensuring that the Kurdistan Region’s financial share is clearly secured in Iraq’s federal budget law.

The issue has featured prominently in recent talks between the KRG and the Iraqi federal government, particularly regarding the Region’s financial entitlements and its proposed share of Iraq’s 2027 federal budget.

Barzani’s remarks highlighted two major issues currently facing the Kurdistan Region: reaching political agreement between the KDP and PUK to establish a new regional government, and securing the Region’s financial entitlements in the federal budget.

On the internal political front, he said he hoped the continued KDP-PUK negotiations would lead to an agreement benefiting the people and communities of the Kurdistan Region.

Regarding relations with Baghdad, Barzani emphasized that negotiations should ultimately produce concrete guarantees for the Region’s financial rights rather than remaining limited to technical discussions.