Qubad Talabani: We must address domestics needs before considering exporting gas

World 06:22 PM - 2023-04-27

Deputy Prime Minister Qubad Talabani.

Qubad Talabani, Deputy Prime Minister of the Kurdistan Region, said in a speech at the Delphi Economic Forum in Greece: "Kurdistan is in a complicated geopolitical situation, and we must deal with our neighbors carefully. We must have good relations with all sides."

"Although the Kurdistan Region is rich in natural resources," he continued, "unfortunately, we still lack 24-hour electricity, so we must address this issue and satisfy domestic needs before considering exporting gas."

Deputy Prime Minister Qubad Talabani attended the Delphi Economic Forum in Greece for the second consecutive time. During a speech at the forum on April 27, he said: "Natural resources make the government lazy. We must provide good services to our people."

Rely on other revenues besides oil revenues

"We must act wisely to diversify our revenue sources because we have a significant domestic energy need, massive untapped gas resources, and a reliance on oil as our primary source of income," he said. "We must rely on other income sources because oil and other natural resources do not guarantee a stable economy. That is why we are here to learn from Greece's and other nations' experiences."

With transparency, corruption will be difficult

He said: "We have worked on digitizing the government. If there is transparency, corruption will be difficult because a bureaucratic government will spread corruption," he said.

Women can play a good role in government

"Equality between men and women in Kurdistan is something we believe; women can play a good role in government," he said.

Strengthen our relations with countries

"We have good relations with the US administration, at the same time, we are not against Iran and Turkey. We must strengthen our relations with other countries," Qubad Talabani said.

"We also have relations with the Syrian Kurds and have fought against the Islamic State (ISIS) together," he said.





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