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Conflict in Syria

Kazakhstan announces next Astana meeting on Syria to be held on March 14-15

On March 14, preliminary consultations are scheduled to take place, while on March 15, the meeting’s participants will hold a plenary meeting

ASTANA, March 9. /TASS/. The next international meeting on settling the Syrian crisis will be held in Astana on March 14-15, the press service of Kazakhstan’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement on Thursday.

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Kremlin stresses Astana and Geneva talks on Syria not alternatives, but unified process

"The next high-level meeting on Syria will be held in the capital of Kazakhstan on March 14-15, 2017. High-level delegations from Russia, Turkey and Iran will take part in the meeting. Invitations will be sent to the United Nations, the United States and Jordan. The guarantor countries expect the Syrian government and the armed opposition to confirm the participation of their delegations," the statement reads.

According to the Kazakh Foreign Ministry, on March 14, preliminary consultations are scheduled to take place, while on March 15, the meeting’s participants will hold a plenary meeting.

Kazakhstan’s Foreign Ministry noted that the Astana process had been initiated by the country’s president Nursultan Nazarbayev. Two rounds of high-level international talks on Syria were held on January 23-24 and February 15-16, while on February 6, a technical meeting of experts took place. The meetings resulted in an agreement on establishing a joint group on monitoring the Syrian ceasefire that paved the way for political discussions during the Geneva talks in accordance with the UN Security Council Resolution 2254. The ministry also said that Kazakhstan was ready to further contribute to international efforts aimed at resolving the Syrian crisis and finding a political solution to the conflict.

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