The eighth round of talks on Syria in Astana has kicked off with the participation of the Syrian government delegation, headed by Bashar al-Jaafari, and delegations from Russia, Iran and Turkey, the three guarantor states of the de-escalation zones agreement.
On Thursday morning, the Syrian delegation met with the Iranian delegation, headed by Deputy Foreign Minister Hossein Jaberi Ansari, for talks on coordination and consultation between the two sides.
Earlier, the Syrian delegation also held a meeting with the Russian delegation, headed by senior negotiator Alexander Lavrentyev. During the meeting, both sides agreed on the importance of consultative meetings for the success of the Astana process.
A Russian source close to the Astana talks said that the guarantor states decided not to expand the list of the participants in Astana process.
According to another source, Turkish, Russian and Iranian representatives will also discuss a date and the list of participants for the upcoming Syrian National Dialogue Congress due to be held in the Russian city of Sochi.
This article was edited by The Syrian Observer. Responsibility for the information and views set out in this article lies entirely with the author.
