11th round of Astana meeting on settling crisis in Syria

The 11th round of Astana meeting on settling crisis in Syria on Wednesday started activities at the Kazakh capital with the participation of the Syrian Arab Republic’s delegation headed by Dr. Bashar al-Jaafari, and other delegations.

Director of Asia and Africa Department at the Kazakh Foreign Ministry Heydar Beck Tomatov said in a press statement that all the invitees to the 11th round of Astana meeting arrived in the Kazakh capital.

Tomatov noted that a delegation from the UN, headed by UN Special Envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura arrived in Astana to participate in the meeting as an observer.

He added that representatives of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNCHR) and of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) will also participate in the meeting.

The delegation of the Syrian Arab Republic started its meetings in the first day of launching Astana meeting by holding a meeting with Kazakh Foreign Minister Kairat Abdrakhmanov.

The Syrian delegation also held another meeting with the Russian delegation, headed by Russian President’s Special Envoy to Syria Alexander Lavrentiev as the two sides held consultations on means to guarantee the success of Astana meeting.

Today, many bilateral and trilateral meetings will be held among the parties participating in Astana  meeting while the general session will be held on Thursday.

Earlier on Tuesday, the Syrian Arab Republic delegation, headed by Dr. al-Jaafari,  met the Iranian delegation headed by Senior Assistant to Iranian Foreign Minister for Political Affairs Hussein Jabri Ansari.

Talks during the meeting dealt with the consultation and coordination on topics to be discussed by the current Astana meeting.