Delegation of the Syrian Arab Republic discusses with the Russian delegation the items on the Astana meeting’s agenda

Nur–Sultan, (ST) – The delegation of the Syrian Arab Republic, headed by the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates, Dr. Ayman Sousan, held a meeting with the Russian delegation headed by the special envoy of the Russian President to Syria, Alexander Lavrentiev, within the framework of the seventeenth meeting of the Astana format, which opened in the Kazakh capital Nur Sultan today.

 During the meeting, the items on the meeting’s agenda were reviewed, where Dr. Sousan stressed that the US and Turkish occupations and their subversive policies, including illegal unilateral coercive measures, are the main reason of Syrians’ suffering.  He added that, these illegal measures are prolonging the crisis, in an attempt to impede the consolidation of stability in Syria.

Sousan stressed the importance of exerting maximum pressure on the Turkish regime to compel it to implement the outputs of the Astana process and the understandings with the Russian side, and to put an end to the illegal Turkish presence in Syria.

With regard to the humanitarian aid, Sousan stressed Syria’s principled position rejecting the entry of aid across the border, especially since the Western powers did not abide by their commitments under Resolution 2585. He stressed that the Syrian state would continue to provide aid to those in need without any discrimination.

For his part, Lavrentiev reiterated Russia’s rejection of everything that might prejudice the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Syria and the importance of joint action to confront the policies of some Western countries that seek to exploit the humanitarian situation, including continuing to impose coercive measures to serve their agendas.

With regard to the political process, the two sides expressed the congruence of their views regarding the rejection of attempts of external interference in the work of the committee to discuss the constitution.

The work of the seventeenth meeting of the talks in the framework of the Astana formula on Syria began this morning in the Kazakh capital, Nur-Sultan, and will last for two days.

The delegation of the Syrian Arab Republic, headed by the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates, Dr. Ayman Sousan participate in the meeting.

The delegations of the guarantor countries of the Astana process, namely Russia, Iran and the Turkish regime participate in the meeting.The Russian delegation is headed by the special envoy of` the President of the Russian Federation Alexander Lavrentiev. The Iranian delegation is headed by the Senior Assistant Foreign Minister for Special Political Affairs Ali Asghar Khaji, while the Turkish regime’s delegation is headed by Unal Selcuk, Director General of Bilateral Political Relations in the Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, as well as representatives of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Defense.

The delegations from Lebanon, Jordan and Iraq participated in the capacity of observers at the ambassadorial level, and the United Nations delegation headed by the Deputy Special Envoy of the Secretary-General of the United Nations to Syria Khawla Matar and a delegation of the so-called “armed opposition”.

The current meeting is distinguished from previous meetings in that it will not conclude with a plenary session, as is customary, with the participation of all participating delegations and the media, but will only issue a final statement, the text of which will be published on the Internet, in compliance with the precautionary measures and the rules of spatial distancing to limit the spread of the Corona pandemic. 

This was preceded by bilateral and tripartite meetings between the various participating delegations within two days of the meeting’s work.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the host country, Kazakhstan, had suggested earlier that a meeting of the foreign ministers of the guarantor countries would be held on the sidelines of the current meeting of the Astana formula, but this news had not beenaccomplished.

 On the agenda of the seventeenth Astana meeting are many points, foremost of which is the discussion of the current situation in Syria, maintaining calm in the de-escalation zones, the return of refugees to their homeland, humanitarian aid, and the unjust coercive sanctions imposed by the Western countries headed by the United States on the Syrian people.

It is noteworthy that the last meeting of the Astana Formula was held in Nur-Sultan on the seventh and eighth of last July. So far, sixteen meetings of the Astana Formula have been held, two of which took place in the Russian resort of Sochi and all of them confirmed their strong commitment to Syria’s sovereignty, independence, unity and territorial integrity.

Raghda Sawas