Since 2003, outstanding issues between Baghdad and Erbil have gone through various phases & taken different forms, with critical milestones characterising and shaping an uneasy relationship.

The US led ‘coalition of the willing’ invaded Iraq in 2003, ending the most oppressive regime. The two countries started a tumultuous mutual engagement, which is likely to become more amicable, predictable and mutually rewarding in the future.

The Iraq Forum is a new Baghdad-based platform for policy debates; organised by MERI in partnership with Iraq Institute for Dialogue and Al-Nahrain Centre for Strategic Studies

The special policy debate was dedicated to discussing US policy in Iraq and the Kurdistan Region, following a visit by a high-level US delegation to Baghdad and Erbil.

This session (at MERI Forum 2022), experts debated the reform of the Iraqi financial sector and the role of the government and the private sector in it. Ava Nader, from the Iraqi Communications and Media Commission

Qubad Talabani and Jeanine Plasschaert debated the challenge of governance and reform in both Iraq and the Kurdistan Region.

Experts & policy makers addressed the fragility of the Iraqi state by identifying structural gaps and proposing practical policy solutions.

This dialogue with PM Masrour Barzani focused on the KRG’s strategy on a number of complex issues, including engagement with Baghdad, institutional reform and governance.

A frank, objective and practical debate on guaranteeing the rights of Yezidis, Christians and other ethno-religious minorities in Iraq.

A debate on the challenges of ‘making Iraq work for all’, from the perspective of the President of Kurdistan Region, Nechirvan Barzani