MOSCOW, March 14. /TASS/. A next meeting of the Astana trio (Russia, Iran and Turkey) on Syria is due to take place shortly, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told a news conference after talks with Qatari top diplomat Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani on Monday.
"As for Syria, we are in favor of a full, comprehensive implementation of Resolution 2254 of the [UN] Security Council. We have spoken about how the activity of the Astana format looks now. A next meeting of the trio with the participation of observers, and of course with the participation of the Syrian parties themselves, is expected shortly," Lavrov said.
The top diplomat confirmed that the Syrian Constitutional Committee will resume its work in Geneva late in March.
"Recently, Mr. [Geir] Pedersen - UN Special Envoy for Syria, visited the Russian Federation. I also met with him in Antalya last Thursday. We confirm the plans to resume the work of the Constitutional Committee as early as the end of this month, in Geneva," he said.
Lavrov said Qatar was interested in cooperation with Russia and Turkey on the settlement of humanitarian problems in Syria. "Of course, it is necessary to step up emergency humanitarian assistance to the Syrians, including the implementation of the so-called early recovery projects, I mean the resumption of electricity supply, medical services, housing construction and education," he said.
"All members of the [UN] Security Council spoke in favor of this in July of last year, adopting a relevant resolution. So far, it is being implemented slowly, and within the framework of the UN we also attract the attention of the leadership of international agencies, and of course the attention of the donors, who are to put into practice this appeal from the Security Council," Lavrov said.
The previous international meeting on Syria in the Astana format took place in Nur-Sultan on December 21-22, 2021.