Foreign Ministers of Guarantor States May Meet Mid March

ASTANA- Kazakhstan Foreign Ministry announced Tuesday that the guarantor states of the cessation of hostilities agreement in Syria (Russia, Iran and Turkey) may hold a meeting on Syria in Astana in mid March, according to SANA.

Russian Sputnik news agency quoted Kazakh Foreign Ministry spokesman, Anuar Zhainakov, as saying: “we received a proposal for holding the meeting of foreign ministers of the guarantor countries, Russia, Iran and Turkey. A date may be in the middle of March. We expect to receive the official confirmation of the date later.”

 Zhainakov added that the 9th round of Astana meeting on Syria could be convened following the meeting as the date will be agreed upon later.

The Kazakh capital of Astana has hosted eight meetings on Syria, the last of which was on Dec. 21-22, and all of the meetings emphasized commitment to Syria’s territorial integrity and finding a political solution to the crisis in Syria. Need to adopt urgent and active international steps to help the Syrians achieve a political solution was also emphasized during the meetings.