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Conflict in Syria

Syrian National Dialogue Congress to be held in Sochi on January 29-30

The congress is aimed at facilitating the Geneva process

ASTANA, December 22. /TASS/. The Syrian National Dialogue Congress will be held in Russia’s Sochi on January 29-30, Director of the Asian and Africa Department at Kazakhstan’s Foreign Ministry Aidarbek Tumatov said on Friday.

"It has been decided to convene the Syrian National Dialogue Congress in Sochi on January 29-30," he said.

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The eighth round of the international talks on Syria will conclude in Kazakhstan’s capital of Astana on Friday. Participants are discussing the dates and the list of participants in the Syrian National Dialogue Congress, the situation in the Syrian de-escalation zones, particularly in the Idlib area, and humanitarian demining, as well as a provision on setting up a working group for the exchange of detainees and the bodies of those killed during the military activities between the parties to the conflict.

Russia earlier put forward an initiative to convene the Syrian National Dialogue Congress in the Black Sea resort of Sochi. Moscow has stressed many times that the Congress is not an alternative to the intra-Syrian talks in Geneva, but is aimed at facilitating the Geneva process.

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Syrian conflict

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