Qubad Talabani took over as Deputy Prime Minister in 2014 at a sensitive time. The region was facing a severe financial crisis due to budget cuts by Baghdad and falling oil prices. The Kurdistan Region had been attacked by the extremist Islamic State group and instability had spread in Iraq and the Kurdistan Region. In addition, about 1.8 million refugees had fled to the Region, putting a huge financial burden on the local authorities.

In this difficult situation, the government could not afford to pay the salaries of its employees and most service and investment projects were disrupted. Talabani, who entered government with a plan to reform and streamline government departments, did not have the opportunity to implement those plans due to successive crises and deepening political conflicts. However he did not give up. He began working on reforms in his first year in the job and continues to do so today.

Some of the steps he has taken so far include:

The aim of the service project is to facilitate citizens' transactions and eliminate administrative and financial corruption. The project involves digitizing citizens' transactions and services, an important step towards creating a more digital government.

The first phase of the service project has been completed and the service portal is now available. According to the portal, before visiting a government office or department, citizens know about what is needed as well as any fees required. Additionally, if a citizen has a complaint about how the institution has treated them, they can notify the relevant authorities through the portal.

The second phase of the project, which is currently in development, is the creation of a one-stop-shop system, which means that when citizens visit a department, they do not need to visit room by room. This is not only a great convenience but also solves the problem of interference and corruption between departments.

Until the eighth cabinet, no detailed statistics or data on the number of state employees were available. Ministries submitted monthly lists of salaried employees to the Ministry of Finance. This was not transparent and details could be changed monthly. Furthermore, a good government should have detailed information about employees in all aspects. Qubad Talabani introduced the idea of ​​a central salary system and supervised the implementation of the biometric registration project.

The biometric register of Kurdistan Regional Government employees has been a factor in eliminating black market wages and reducing corruption, and has become a key basis for implementing many reforms in government departments.

It is now easier to monitor government expenditure. More than 50,000 "dummy" positions were deleted and millions of dollars in monthly expenditure were refunded. Based on this system, preparations are being made to pay salaries electronically in the near future. Currently all salaried employees in the region have unique personal numbers and in the next stages of the process, all citizens will be registered in this system too and will also have unique personal numbers. State services are connected through this personal number.

The relevant council is also currently working on reorganizing the government's human resources and distributing positions to ministries and departments in a more efficient manner. This is an important step in administrative reform.

As part of his campaign to digitalize local government and eliminate excessive bureaucracy in government departments, Qubad Talabani has prepared an electronic signatures bill that will have great impact if approved by the Kurdistan Region's Parliament. For example, a citizen will no longer have to wait for a manager to sign his transaction in person.

After the federal government in Baghdad again cut the Kurdistan Region's share of the national income in April 2020, Kurdish authorities have had problems providing civil servants' salaries. Qubad Talabani took over the leadership of the Kurdistan Regional Government's negotiating delegation to Baghdad and after several visits to the capital, an agreement was reached to send 320 billion Iraqi dinars monthly. Unfortunately the federal government ony held to this agreement for two months.

In late 2020, Talabani and the delegation resumed negotiations to reach an agreement on the 2021 budget. This was accomplished after several rounds of negotiations. It was an important achievement for the Kurdistan Regional Government. After the approval of the budget law, the oil and non-oil revenues of the region were estimated and it was determined that the region should receive 200 billion Iraqi dinars monthly during 2021.

Upon his return from the United States in 2012, Qubad Talabani established the Office of Coordination and Follow-up. He then headed that office in the Kurdistan Regional Government. The office's mission was to follow up on the government's actions and decisions and to evaluate the performance of various ministries.

During his 18-month tenure, Talabani implemented several projects that focussed on the development of skills within government. At the same time, the state services project was launched.

Qubad Talabani has supported the private sector in the Kurdistan Region because it plays a fundamental role in reviving and strengthening the local economy. His achievements in this area include:

- Registration of companies

Previously registering a company took at least a month and, in some cases, several months due to excessive bureaucracy and outdated laws. Talabani supervised the amendment of laws and guidelines himself and his actions means that this process now requires just one working day.

- Review of fees

Talabani has reviewed fees charged for state services. His decision was not to increase fees but to organize and facilitate their collection and adapt the process so that it supports the building of a strong local economy.

- Reorganization of border crossings

Another of Talabani's achievements is the reorganization and digitalization of border gates. This aims to make revenues – customs duties and similar income - more transparent and to speed up business activities and trade.

- Labour law, private sector pension law and employment guidelines for foreigners

Another of Talabani's efforts is to amend local labour laws, the private sector pension law and guidelines for foreign workers in the Kurdistan Region. Amendments to the labour law protect gender equality in the workplace. This will be an important factor in the development of the private sector and also empowers women, making them a vital part of the Kurdistan Region's human resources.

The amendment to the private sector pension bill allows private sector employees to retire in the same way as public sector employees, offering a significant incentive for citizens to consider private sector employment more favourably.

The amendment to the employment guidelines for foreign workers obliges the private sector to give priority to local labour and only hire foreign workers if local labour is unavailable. The directive also emphasizes the protection of the rights of foreign workers in accordance with international standards.

Talabani is focused on creating a favourable environment for private sector investment by ensuring that the state and bureaucratic environment is conducive to this increasingly important and growing aspect of the Kurdistan Region's economy.

Qubad Talabani has played an important role in strengthening relations between the Kurdistan Region and the United States, both when he was his party's representative in the United States and after 2006 when he was the Kurdistan Regional Government's representative there. He has established strong relationships with various parties in the country, including in Congress, think tanks, companies and chambers of commerce. All these serve the interests of the Kurdistan Region.

During his time in Washington, Talabani played an influential role in establishing the  Kurdish American Congressional Caucus, a bipartisan committee focusing on US-Kurdish relations, with the support and participation of 52 members of Congress. Established on May 23, 2008, the committee is a guarantee of the continued friendship between the United States, the Kurdish diaspora in that country, and the Kurdish people in the Kurdistan Region in Iraq. It was because of the efforts of this committee that the decision was made to open a US Consulate in Erbil.

Talabani also played an influential role in the establishment of the US-Kurdistan Business Council in November 2011. The Council's mission is to facilitate trade with US companies while also strengthening US private sector investments and relations with the Kurdistan Region. The Council works to ensure that the Kurdistan Region benefits from foreign investment in a way that strengthens economic opportunities here.