Trio Preparing for New Syria Talks

An international meeting in Astana on settlement of the situation in Syria is planned for late February, Kazakhstan’s Foreign Minister Kairat Abdrakhmanov told reporters on Tuesday, TASS news agency reported.

“According to information that we received from ‘Astana process’ underwriter states—Russia, Turkey, and Iran—the parties are preparing for a new round of talks in Astana in accordance with earlier agreements. The issue concerns the 20th days of February, but information is to be ultimately confirmed by the underwriter states,” Abdrakhmanov said.

In December 2017, the eighth international meeting on Syria was held in Kazakhstan’s capital. On the basis of its results, Russia, Iran and Turkey coordinated terms of the Syrian National Dialogue Congress on January 29-30 in Sochi. The next international high-level meeting on Syria in Astana was decided to be held in the second half of February 2018.