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Talks on Syria to be unaffected by Astana bowing out as meeting host — Iranian diplomat

Russian Special Presidential Envoy for Syria Alexander Lavrentyev said that the 21st international meeting on Syria in the established format will be held in the second half of 2023

DUBAI, June 26. /TASS/. Kazakhstan’s decision to discontinue its role as host of Astana format meetings on Syria (Russia, Iran and Turkey) will not affect negotiations for settling the crisis in the Arab country, Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Nasser Kanani Chafi said on Monday.

"Kazakhstan hosted the quadrilateral meeting on Syria <...>. The decision [to end the Astana consultations] was made by the Kazakh government, but in principle there will be no change or disruption in the negotiation process," he told a press conference in Tehran.

As Kanani pointed out, the venue of the next meeting will be determined by the countries participating in the consultations. "Perhaps the government of Kazakhstan will play a role in organizing the meeting," he added.

The talks on the Syrian settlement were first held in the Kazakh capital in January 2017. All but two meetings (held in Sochi) took place there. The UN, Jordan and the US served as observers of the negotiation process (the US withdrew in May 2018), and in August 2019, Iraq and Lebanon joined them. The 20th meeting in the Astana format was held on June 20-21 this year. Earlier, Kazakh Deputy Foreign Minister Kanat Tumysh said that this round would be the last. Russian Special Presidential Representative for the Middle East and Africa and Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov explained that ending the Astana meetings on Syria was a move taken at Kazakhstan's initiative. Russian Special Presidential Envoy for Syria Alexander Lavrentyev said that the 21st international meeting on Syria in the established format will be held in the second half of 2023.

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