Updated 29 October, 18.23, Kurdistan Time

Erbil, Kurdistan – Iraq (KRG.org) – Dr Barham Salih, the new Prime Minister of the Kurdistan Region, announced the vision and policies of the newly appointed government today after he and his cabinet took their oath of office.

In his address to the Kurdistan Parliament, Prime Minister Salih thanked former Prime Minister Nechirvan Barzani and the previous cabinet for their achievements. He pledged to maintain the Kurdistan Region’s peace and stability, while seeking renewal and reform and focusing on good governance and delivery of services to the people.

The new cabinet has been streamlined by reducing it to 19 ministries. This is a reduction from 27 ministries and eight ministers without portfolio in the previous cabinet.

The cabinet was ratified by the Kurdistan Parliament and took its oath of office in the presence of Kurdistan Region President Masoud Barzani, former Prime Minister Nechirvan Barzani, MPs, Iraqi federal government officials and foreign diplomats.

Prime Minister Salih pledged that the KRG will listen closely to young people, women and the elderly, giving priority to education, health, roads, housing and increasing the income of the Kurdistani people.

He said that the cabinet will give attention to areas where genocide was committed, such as Halabja, and will work hard for the international recognition of the Anfal genocide.

Regarding the Iraqi political process, Dr Salih stressed Kurdistan’s friendship with the Arab and other communities in Iraq and the constitution as the key to resolving outstanding issues.

The Kurdistan Region in Iraq will continue to have good relations with its neighbours, and the increasing economic relations with Turkey will bring the two closer together in other areas, the Prime Minister said.

Dr Salih was appointed Prime Minister by the Kurdistani List coalition, which won the Kurdistan Region parliamentary elections in July with 58 percent of the vote, and voter turnout of nearly 80 percent. Mr Azad Barwari, a senior member of the Kurdistan Democratic Party, was appointed Deputy Prime Minister.

The cabinet is made up of members of the coalition parties the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP), the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), Kurdistan Islamic Movement, Chaldean Assyrian Syriac Council and Turkmen parties. The ministers reflect the diverse ethnic and religious traditions in the Region, with the Christian, Muslim and Yezidi faiths all represented. Dr Salih thanked the leaders of the coalition parties, Iraqi President Jalal Talabani and Kurdistan Region's President Barzani, for their support.

A senior member of the PUK, Prime Minister Salih heads the sixth Kurdistan Region cabinet since 1992. Before this appointment, he was the Deputy Prime Minister of Iraq from 2006, and the federal Minister of Planning from 2005. Before the liberation of Iraq, he served as the Prime Minister of the Suleimaniah administration of the Kurdistan Region.

Prime Minister Salih takes over from Mr Nechirvan Barzani, who served as the first prime minister of the Kurdistan Region since the liberation of Iraq and after the historic 2006 unification agreement between the KDP and PUK.

See also
Ministers in the new KRG cabinet

Profile of Prime Minister Barham Salih

President Masoud Barzani's speech on formation of the new cabinet

Speech by outgoing Prime Minister Nechirvan Barzani: "I look to the future with optimism"