Astana 8 Meeting on Syria Kicks off

ASTANA, (ST)- Astana 8 Meeting on Syria started on Thursday in the Kazakh Capital Astana with the participation of the delegation of the Syrian Arab Republic delegation led by Dr. Bashar al-Jaafari and the delegations of the three guarantor countries of the cessation of hostilities system in Syria (Russia, Iran and Turkey).

 The delegation of the Syrian Arab Republic held two consultative meetings; one of them was with the Iranian delegation led by Iran’s Assistant Foreign Minister for Arab Affair Hussein Jaberi Ansari and the other was with the Russian delegation led by the Russia’s President’s Special Envoy for Syria Alexander Lavrentiev. Consultations aimed at making the Astana 8 Meeting a success.

The Russian delegation also held two separate meetings with the Iranian and Turkish delegations. The three delegations of the guarantor countries are due to hold a tripartite meeting on developments in Syria.

A Russian source close to the meeting announced that the guarantor countries decided not to expand the list of participants in Astana process.

Regarding the Syrian National Dialogue Congress in Sochi, the source said representatives of the guarantor countries will discuss fixing a date for holding the congress and who will participate in it.

The Kazakh capital has hosted seven meetings on Syria, the latest of which was held on October 31. In this meeting, the guarantor countries renewed their commitment to Syria’s territorial integrity, to fighting terrorism and to maintaining the cessation of hostilities in the de-escalation zones.

Hamda Mustafa