Rouhani to Attend Kazakhstan Summit

President Hassan Rouhani confirmed his participation in a trilateral meeting with Russian and Turkish counterparts to be held in the Kazakh capital Astana on the Syrian crisis. Rouhani welcomed the initiative for holding a trilateral meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in mid-January to discuss Syrian developments and make efforts to arrive at an agreement on the future of the war-stricken country, Fars News Agency reported. Last week, the Russian Foreign Ministry announced that the Kazakh trilateral meeting will be held with the participation of the three heads of state of Russia, Iran and Turkey. Also on December 20, the foreign ministers of Iran, Russia and Turkey met in Moscow for talks on the Syrian crisis while the defense ministers of the three countries held separate talks on the same topic in the Russian capital. In the most recent development, Putin announced on Thursday that the Syrian government and terrorist groups had reached an agreement on a ceasefire and on their readiness to start peace talks. The Russian president said three documents had been signed on Syrian political settlement, adding that UN representatives will be invited to participate in the implementation of the agreements.