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Talks on Syria kick off in Astana

30 October 2017 11:05 (UTC+04:00)
Talks on Syria kick off in Astana

By Kamila Aliyeva

The seventh international meeting on Syria, which will become another step on the way towards peace in this country, begins in Astana on October 30.

This was stated by Russian Ambassador to Kazakhstan Mikhail Bocharnikov during the meeting of the committees of the lower house of Kazakhstan and the Russian State Duma, RIA Novosti reported.

Kazakhstan today makes a significant contribution to the peaceful settlement in Syria, according to the envoy.

He stressed that "it was Astana where a breakthrough in establishing a political dialogue between the Syrian government and the opposition was achieved and, thanks to agreements on de-escalation zones, the level of armed confrontation and violence in the country has been significantly reduced."

During the talks, it is planned to approve the provision on a working group on the release of hostages, prisoners, the transfer of bodies of the dead and the search for missing persons, according to the Kazakh Foreign Ministry. The parties also intend to consider combating international terrorism and adopt a joint statement on humanitarian demining in Syria.

Earlier, the Kazakh Foreign Ministry said that all parties to the talks on Syria confirmed their participation in the seventh meeting. The Russian delegation will be headed by the special representative of the President of Russia for Syria - Alexander Lavrentiev, Turkey - Deputy Foreign Minister Sedat Onal, Iran - Deputy Foreign Minister Hussein Jaberi Ansari.

Astana talks involve Kazakhstan - as an organizing country, sides to the Syrian conflict - governmental and opposition, and observers from the United States, United Nations and Jordan.

UN Special Envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura will not participate in this meeting on the settlement of the situation in the Arab Republic and the UN will have another representative, the head of the press service of Kazakhstan's Foreign Ministry, Anuar Zhainakov, told TASS.

To date, six rounds of negotiations on the ongoing Syrian conflict were held in Astana.

The sixth round of talks in Astana ended in September with the adoption of a joint statement confirming the intention of the parties to continue work on establishing de-escalation zones in Syria and other decisions previously adopted in the course of the Astana process.

Guarantors of a nationwide Syrian ceasefire regime - Russia, Turkey and Iran - had agreed on May 4 in the Kazakh capital, Astana, to establish "de-escalation zones" in war-torn Syria. The zones would cover the city of Idlib and certain parts of Latakia, Homs, Aleppo and Hama as well as Damascus, Eastern Ghouta, Daraa and Quneitra. The establishment of the fourth one in Idlib province was the spotlight of the sixth meeting in Astana.

De-escalation zones in Syria allowed to significantly reduce the scale of the conflict and contributed to the improvement of the humanitarian situation in Syria.

While the Astana process is separate from the UN’s Geneva talks on Syrian crisis, the attendance of the UN Special Envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura links the Kazakh platform to broader international efforts.

Syria has been locked in civil war since March 2011. According to UN's special envoy for Syria, Staffan de Mistura, around 400,000 people have died in the conflict while half the population has been driven from their homes.

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Kamila Aliyeva is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @Kami_Aliyeva

Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz

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