Preparations underway for upcoming Astana meeting on Syria

Kazakh Foreign Minister Kairat Abdrakhmanov said that his country is continuing to prepare for the next meeting in Astana on the crisis in Syria which will take place at the end of this month.

Abdrakhmanov told reporters that he has nothing to add, and all parties are systematically preparing for the next meeting to be held in accordance with the agreements reached in the framework of the Astana process at the end of this month.

In turn, Russian Special Presidential Envoy for Middle East and African Countries and Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov said that he hopes that the Astana 6th meeting will be held as scheduled before the end of this month.

“It depends not just on three underwriters [Russia, Iran and Turkey], but on the willingness of the Syrian parties – I mean the government of the Syrian Arab Republic and the armed opposition that joined our ceasefire agreements,” he said. “So, we are expecting information from them.”

Bogdanov noted that it is too early to talk about any specific terms. “I think they [the terms] will be settled now during contacts with the Syrian parties, because they, most of all, should observe and implement the taken decisions,” he added

Source : SANA