SULAIMANIYA — Long-serving Iraqi Kurdish natural resources minister, Ashti Hawrami, will take up an advisory role of Assistant Prime Minister for Energy Affairs in Prime Minister Masrour Barazani’s newly-formed cabinet, Kurdish lawmakers said on Sunday. Hawrami, the Kurdistan Regional Government’s (KRG) energy minister since 2006, is seen as the mastermind behind the semi-autonomous region’s plans to have an energy industry free from the Baghdad central government’s control. “Hawrami has been appointed as an assistant to Prime Minister Masrour for energy affairs. He will help run the energy portfolio until a new minister is appointed,” said regional Kurdish lawmaker Sirwan Baban. Chief among issues that strained relations between the regional capital Erbil and Baghdad is a disagreement over independent regional oil exports and revenue sharing.

Source: National Post July 21, 2019 14:48 UTC