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New parties may join Astana talks on Syria

Participants in the upcoming meeting will be known within a week, according to the Kazakh Foreign Ministry

ASTANA, October 23. /TASS/. New players may participate in the seventh international Astana meeting on Syria, Kazakhstan’s Foreign Minister Kairat Abdrakhmanov told reporters on Monday.

"I don’t rule out such a possibility, everything depends on how the guarantor countries coordinate their activities," he said when asked if new parties could join the Astana talks.

According to the Kazakh top diplomat, participants in the upcoming meeting will be known within a week.

The sixth international meeting on Syria took place in Kazakhstan’s capital of Astana on September 14-15. The parties finalized the establishment of all the four Syrian de-escalation zones. The meeting involved the three guarantors of the Syrian ceasefire (Russia, Iran and Turkey), the Syrian government and armed opposition, as well as United Nations Special Envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura, while Jordan and the United States were present as observers.

The sixth Astana meeting on resolving the Syrian conflict is scheduled to be held on October 30-31.