NUR-SULTAN, November 16. /TASS/. Kazakhstan’s Foreign Ministry is ready to hold an international meeting on Syria in the Astana format in Nur-Sultan in the second half of December, Kazakh Deputy Prime Minister, Foreign Minister Mukhtar Tleuberdi told journalists on Tuesday.

"We confirmed the readiness to hold, conduct here [the talks on Syria] after December 20. We received an official note from the Russian side, now we are waiting for the confirmation from other sides. And only then we will begin to send official invitations to the meeting," he said in response to a question about the dates of the talks.

He also noted that currently a meeting of the foreign ministers of the guarantors of the Astana process (Russia, Turkey and Iran) is being coordinated within the framework of the talks on Syria in Kazakhstan. "The coordination between the guarantor states is currently underway. On our part, we confirmed the readiness to hold the meeting itself and the ministerial meeting," the Kazakh top diplomat explained.

The 16th international high-level meeting on Syria was held in Nur-Sultan on July 7-8 with the participation of the guarantor states, Syria’s government and the Syrian armed opposition. The participants discussed the situation in the republic, the international humanitarian assistance, the prospects of resuming the activity of the Syrian Constitutional Committee in Geneva, as well as trust-building measures, including prisoner swaps, the release of hostages and the search for those missing in action.