ANKARA, September 16. /TASS/. Next expert meeting on Syrian settlement will be held in Kazakhstan’s Nur-Sultan, formerly known as Astana, in November, Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Monday.
"The practice of organizing regular expert meetings between delegates from the [Astana process] guarantor nations, the Syrian parties and the United Nations and other regional observers will be continued. The next, 14th, round of such consultations will be held in Nur-Sultan in October," he said after his talks with the Turkish and Iranian counterparts, Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Hassan Rouhani.
The Russian leader noted he was satisfied with the results of Monday’s summit on Syria. "The firth meeting of the heads of state of the Astana process for promoting Syrian settlement was quite productive and successful," Putin said.
He drew attention to the fact the "the joint statement reflects the commitment to further efforts in the interests of lasting and viable peace in Syria." "We insist that it can be reached only by political and diplomatic means in strict compliance with United Nations Security Council Resolution 2254," he stressed.
"As the guarantors of the Astana process, out three countries support Syria’s sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity. We see our top priority tasks in encouraging the intra-Syrian political dialogue," he said, adding that for these ends the practice of expert meetings would be continued.