Arbil, August 21: Massoud Barzani and Barham Saleh have been sworn-in as President and Prime Minister of the autonomous region of Kurdistan.
Both the regional president and prime minister took their oath on Thursday during the opening of the new parliament in the northern city of Arbil, 350 km (217 miles) north of Baghdad.
The Iraqi government officially accepted the resignation of Saleh, one of the country’s two deputy prime ministers, to join the self-rule regional government.
Barzani begins his second term in office with Barham Saleh, who had been the Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Al-Maliki’s point man on economic and oil issues.
The Kurds have been locked in a bitter dispute with Baghdad over the control of oil and territory, including the disputed city of Kirkuk.
An Iraqi government spokesman expressed hope that the central government’s ties with Saleh would help ease the tensions.
—–Agencies