Iraqi PM meets Kurdish regional PM

Baghdad, Jan 20 (IANS) Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi on Saturday met the Kurdistan regional government's Prime Minister Nechirvan Barzani for the first time since the controversial independence referendum last year.

Abadi received Barzani, who was accompanied by his deputy Qubad Talabani and Fuad Hussein, head of the regional presidency office, the Kurdish Rudaw Media Network reported.

The meeting between the two sides was underway, Xinhua news agency cited the Rudaw report as saying.

Abadi's office and the Iraqi official media had no reports about the meeting so far.

The meeting is the first such kind between the two sides as tensions have been running high between Baghdad and Kurdistan's regional capital Erbil after the Kurds held the referendum on the independence of the Kurdistan region and disputed areas on September 25.

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