UN coordinator meets Kurdish delegations

The UN coordinator in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq, Dennis Halliday, held a joint meeting with two delegations representing the Kurdistan Democratic Party led by Massud Barzani and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan led by Jalal Talabani.

The meeting -- the third of this sort -- focused on ways to facilitate in the area the implementation of the oil-for-food program that is being run by the U.N.

Following the meeting, the UN spokesman told reporters that all the sides had similar views regarding the next steps to be adopted to implement the oil-for-food deal. "The two delegates discussed the measures to be taken to overcome the problems facing education, health and the reconstruction process in the region" with Halliday, he said.

"We asked for a budget to be specified to end problems facing education, health, reconstruction and some other daily life aspects," a spokesman of KDP told reporters.

The PUK delegation was headed by Saadi Ahmed Peera, member of the Leadership Council of the PUK and the coordinator of humaniterian aid, while the KDP delegation was headed by Minister of Industry Idris Hadi.