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Speaker of the Kurdistan Parliament Dr. Rewas Faiq on 29th July welcomed members of the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) Political Bureau, the party’s leadership body. Mr. Fazil Mirani, Secretary of the KDP PolitBureau, congratulated Dr. Faiq on her election as Speaker and expressed the KDP’s full support for the vital work carried out by Parliament and its Presidency.

MPs on 11th July elected Dr. Rewas Faiq Hussein (PUK) as the new Speaker of the Kurdistan Parliament. Dr. Faiq in her speech said that Parliament’s Presidency works for and is the umbrella for all the parliamentary parties, and that the Kurdistan Region needs financial and budgetary reform, transparency and measures to tackle corruption. Four new MPs were sworn in, and MPs had the first reading of a resolution on designating 3rd August 2014 as Yazidi Genocide remembrance day. 

Kurdistan Parliament Deputy Speaker Hemin Hawrami on 11th July welcomed a delegation from the Parliament of France, who reaffirmed their close friendship with the Kurdistan Region and their support for the rights of Christians and Yazidis.

The Kurdistan Parliament today 10th July voted on giving confidence to the new Prime Minister, Masrour Barzani, and his ministerial nominees. He garnered the support of 88 MPs (of a total of 111), and each of his ministerial candidates won votes of confidence by large majorities. Prime Minister Barzani announced his cabinet’s programme, which he said was conceived and drafted by all the parties in the government coalition. He said that this cabinet will focus on reform and improving services to the people. Read more, see photo gallery and video. 

This week the Health Committee met representatives of Erbil's medicines trading companies to gather evidence on the problems in the pharmaceuticals trade, and decided to meet representatives of Slemani and Duhok companies as well. The Integrity Committee will form a subcommittee to follow up on complaints about water smart meter bills.  

President Nechirvan Barzani, Parliament Speaker Dr. Vala Fareed and a Kurdistan Region delegation on 29 June in Baghdad met representatives of the United Nations Security Council. They asked the UN to help resolve outstanding issues between Kurdistan and Iraq, and counter violence and terrorism in the Kurdistani areas outside the KRG administrative areas. 

The Human Rights Committee plans to visit prisons, shelters, women's rights organisations, and the directorates on combating domestic violence; the Health Committee meets the head of Kurdistan's Physicians Syndicate to discuss amendments to health legislation and drafting patients rights legislation, read more...

Kurdistan Parliament Deputy Speaker Hemin Hawrami today in a speech to a delegation from the US Chamber of Commerce said that American companies can participate in diversifying Kurdistan Region’s economy.

Parliament's Relations and Kurdish Diaspora Committee yesterday congratulated Kurdish-American Ms Herro Mustafa on her appointment as US Ambassador to Bulgaria. Other committees in recent meetings discussed oil income for paying government employees' salaries, illegal oil refineries, and Iraq's regulation on opening a branch of a foreign company. 

This week, Kurdistan Parliament's committees met with Mr. Rebwar Talabani, the head of Kirkuk Provincial Council; discussed farmers' deliveries to grain silos; and discussed the funding for Slemani governorate's activities as Kurdistan's Capital of Culture.