President Barzani: only constitution can resolve outstanding issues

 U.S. Vice President Joe Biden met Thursday in Irbil with the president of Iraqi Kurdistan region, Massoud Barzani.

 According to earlier reports, Biden and Barzani were to discuss ways of boosting US-Iraq relations, US-Kurdish relations and relations between Baghdad and Arbil.
 
 "It's an honour to be here. I didn't bring a sandstorm this time," Biden greeted Barzani as saying, according to a report.

 After the meeting, in a joint press conference President Barzani noted that he can only resolve the outstanding issues "through the application of the constitution and good relations with the central government."

 "We know these are difficult issues. If they weren't, they would have been resolved a long time ago," Biden said.

 A U.S. official says Biden would repeat what he told Iraqi leaders in Baghdad on Wednesday -- that passage of the law is in Iraq's best interest. The country's Kurdish, Shi'ite and Sunni leaders have been in a long-running feud involving land and oil.

 Biden also met with officials including Ayad al-Samarrai, the speaker of the parliament and Vice-President Tariq al-Hashemi.