World Bulletin/News Desk

Kurdish parties have shared out ministries allocated to them by the Iraqi federal government as part of continuing efforts to form a new government in Iraq.

Following a meeting of five parties in Erbil, the capital of the Kurdish Regional Government, or KRG, on Monday, the government's ruling Kurdistan Democratic Party took the deputy Prime Ministry and Finance Ministry posts, while its rival Patriotic Union of Kurdistan took the Culture Ministry.

Women's Affairs and the Displacement and Migration Ministries were shared between the centrist Gorran and Islamic Union of Kurdistan, or Yekgirtu, parties respectively.

Nickolay Mladinov, the Special Representative of the Secretary General for Iraq and Head of the UN Assistance Mission in Iraq (UNAMI), was also present during the meeting of Kurdish parties and held a private meeting with the KRG Prime Minister, Nechirvan Barzani.

According to a release from the official website of the KRG government on Monday, Barzani and Mladinov also discussed the continuance of military training and weapons aid for peshmergas in their fight against the ISIL

Barzani also urged the UN and the international community for more aid for refugees fleeing ISIL violence from interior Iraqi cities into Kurdish administration.

In efforts to form an all-embracing government aimed at reducing ethnic and sectarian divisions in Iraq, new Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi formed a new government early in September which unseated Nouri al-Maliki, who had been widely criticized for favoring Shiite policies.

Shiite, Sunni and Kurdish elements in the country shared the post of the Prime Ministry, Parliamentary Speaker and Presidency in order to create equal participation in Iraqi politics.