Committees' recent meetings - 20 August 2021
A summary of Kurdistan Parliament's committees' recent work and meetings:
Integrity Committee
16 August – Kurdistan Parliament Speaker Dr. Rewaz Faiq chaired a meeting of the Integrity Committee to discuss the Bill on Second Amendments to the Law on the Integrity Commission in Kurdistan Region – Iraq (Law No. 3 of 2011).
The articles of the bill were discussed so that the committee can prepare its report on it.
The committee read all the letters, memos, and requests sent by the public and were answered or were raised with the relevant authorities to follow up and resolve them.
Relations and Kurdish Diaspora Committee
18 August – The committee, led by the chair Dr. Rebwar Babkayi (KDP), met with Minister Safeen Dizayee, the KRG’s Head of the Department of Foreign Relations (DFR), and department officials.
Chair Babkayi asked the DFR for the termly activity reports from the KRG’s representations abroad, so that the parliament committee is more aware of the representations’ work and activities.
The committee and the DFR also discussed the plight of citizens from Kurdistan Region stranded in Lithuania while trying to make their way to Western Europe. The committee members said that the refugees are suffering in horrendous conditions. The MPs asked Minister Dizayee to make every effort to help the refugees stranded in Lithuania, via the KRG’s representatives abroad.
Minister Dizayee and the DFR staff pledged to do whatever is necessary to help resolve the situation of the refugees.
The committee and the DFR held a joint press conference after the meeting.
17 August - The committee, led by the chair Dr. Rebwar Babkayi (KDP), met to discuss the plight of citizens from Kurdistan Region stranded in Lithuania while trying to make their way to Western Europe.
Chair Babkayi outlined the political and legal aspects of the case and said that the basic living conditions and situation for the stranded citizens are terrible, and that their legal position is also very weak.
After discussing the issue in depth, the committee decided to send a letter to Parliament’s Presidency to ask that their members visit Lithuania to look further into the refugees’ situation, to prepare a report on it and suggestion solutions, and to negotiate with the relevant parties to solve the issue, as well as continue the relations that the chair Mr. Babkayi has already developed to resolve the issue with the relevant authorities.
The committee also decided to meet with the KRG Interior Minister to discuss illegal immigration and people smuggling businesses in the Kurdistan Region.
Finance and Economic Affairs Committee
17 August – The committee, led by the chair Ziyad Jabbar (PUK), discussed the 2021 Kurdistan Region budget and decided to ask the KRG Council of Ministers in writing to prepare the 2022 budget bill, in place of the anticipated 2021 budget bill, and to send it to Parliament in October.
The committee will also ask the KRG to send two six-monthly financial statements for the year 2021, instead of the 2021 budget bill, and for the 2021 final statement and financial audit at the end of 2021.
All the notes and requests sent to the committee were read and either received a response or were directed to Parliament’s Presidency for follow-up.
Municipalities, Communication, Transport and Tourism Committee
9 August – The committee, led by the chair Luqman Wardy (PUK), discussed the Bill on Tourism in the Kurdistan Region, which had its first reading at the Parliament sitting of 28 June.
The committee studied the details of the bill and decided to hold a workshop with the relevant parties and authorities and with experts, to enrich the draft and prepare their report on it for Parliament’s Presidency, so that it can be put through the next legislative steps.
All of the letters and requests sent by the public were discussed and forwarded to the relevant parties to carry out the necessary work and follow-up.
Endowments and Religious Affairs Committee
9 August - The committee conveyed the following message for the Islamic New Year 1443:
In the name of God the Great and the Merciful,
On this Muslim New Year 1443, marking the anniversary of the Prophet Muhammad's (PBUH) emigration from the holy city of Mecca to the city of Medina, we extend our warmest congratulations to the Muslims of Kurdistan.
We hope that this blessed New Year bring prosperity and safety to all the people of Kurdistan, and that brotherhood, peaceful coexistence and harmony will be stronger in the Kurdistan Region.
May Allah protect the people and land of Kurdistan from all viruses and diseases.
9 August 2021
15 August – Members of the committee, led by the vice-chair Mala Ihsan Rekani (KDP), visited Egypt’s Consulate in Kurdistan Region and met with the Consul Mohammed Ahmed Wajih Hijazi.
The discussed the long-standing relationship between the people of Kurdistan and the Egyptian Republic, where the first Kurdish newspaper, called Kurdistan, was published by Miqdad Madhat Badrkhan in the capital Cairo in 1898.
They also discussed the friendship between the Kurdish and Egyptian leaders Mala Mustafa Barzani Jamal Abdul Nasir, and other stages of the historic ties.
The MPs said that they hope to have closer relations with the Egyptian Consulate.
The position of Egypt’s Al-Azhar University as a very old centre for Islamic studies was highlighted, and a coalition of religious institutions in Kurdistan and Egypt was proposed to serve the principles of religious understanding and coexistence.
Egypt's successful experience of confronting extremism and spreading the message of moderation was also a focus of the meeting.
Consul Hijazi thanked the committee for their visit and emphasized more cooperation and follow-up. He assured the MPs that he will work to further develop relations between the Kurdistani and Egyptian people and continue their historic relations.
The Egyptian Consul commended the Kurdistani people’s culture of peaceful religious coexistence and said, "This coexistence has historic roots; there is no place for sectarianism or religious and national fanaticism here because in Kurdistan all the communities are brothers in humanity”, and he thanked the institutions and institutions of the region for protecting the relations in the Kurdistan Region. There is.
Investment and Reconstruction Committee
18 August – The committee, led by the chair Hawre Mala Star (PUK), exchanged views on some of the investment projects in the Kurdistan Region governorates and decided to form a sub-committee to look into them further.
The MPs also decided to scrutinize a decision by the Kurdistan Region Investment Board regarding instalment payments for residential housing units.
All the letters sent to the committee were read and discussed, and either received a reply to were sent to the relevant authorities to investigate and resolve them.
Agriculture and Irrigation Committee
18 August – Members of the committee, led by the chair Abdulsatar Majeed Qadir (KJG), visited separately Erbil Governorate authorities and Erbil Provincial Council.
The first meeting was with Erbil Governer Omed Khoshnaw, and the second with Ali Rashid, the head of Erbil Provincial Council. At both, they discussed agriculture, irrigation, farmers' crops and agricultural businesses, and how to facilitate their work.
Another topic was reducing and preventing the monopoly in some agricultural goods that harms farmers.
They also discussed the drought and water shortages, particularly in Erbil governorate, and the committee called for more efforts to resolve the shortages, including building dams.
Governor Khoshnaw and Chair Rashid assured the parliament committee that they are making every effort to solve the agriculture and irrigation problems.
16 August - The committee, led by the chair Abdulsatar Majeed Qadir (KJG), exchanged views on the Bill on Production and Import of Seeds and Plants, Registration, Approval and Protection of Agricultural Chemicals in the Kurdistan Region – Iraq, and decided to send the bill to Parliament’s Presidency.
The meeting also covered the payments owed to Kurdistan's farmers for their wheat production and the committee decided that some committee members should visit Baghdad to continue their follow-up on the issue.
The committee discussed the problems faced by farmers in Kifri and Jabara and decided to visit the areas to investigate further and see how they can be resolved.
Municipalities, Communication, Travel and Tourism Committee
9 August – To the Bill on Tourism in the Kurdistan Region, the committee held their regular meeting chaired by Luqman Wardy (PUK).
The committee decided to hold a workshop on the Bill with experts and relevant parties and then prepare their final report on it so that Parliament’s Presidency can put it through the next legislative procedures.
All the letters sent to the committee were read and discussed, and were sent to the relevant authorities to investigate and resolve them.
Peshmerga Committee
3 August – To have a very good understanding of the Peshmerga forces’ conditions and to investigate their problems, members of the committee, led by the chair Reving Hirori, several Peshmerga forces in Duhok province’s borders.
The delegation visited Nineveh, Telesqof, Nawran, and west of Tigris and met with the commanders and officials of those posts. The committee pledged to raise the Peshmerga’s problems and concerns with the government and to help to resolve them.