The Syrian government delegation to the fifth Astana conference met for consultative meetings with Russian and Iranian representatives after landing in the Kazakh capital on Monday.
The delegation, headed by Bashar al-Jaafari, held a meeting with Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Hossein Jaberi Ansari and Middle East Director at the Russian Foreign Ministry Sergei Vershinin.
In a statement to reporters, head of the Russian delegation Alexander Lavrentiev said that the fifth Astana meeting aims at reaching an agreement on the de-escalation zones, whose details are being now discussed to be agreed upon.
Lavrentiev said that tripartite consultations are underway with the Iranian and Turkish delegations on the expert level.
On Tuesday, Ansari met with United Nations Special Envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura to discuss the latest developments related to the Geneva and Astana talks.
Ansari said that the Astana and Geneva talks are complimentary processes, adding that all needs must be provided for the progress of these talks.
He highlighted the role of the U.N. in providing technical assistance to help maintain the de-escalation zones in Syria and to help continue the process of the inter-Syrian talks in order to reach a comprehensive national reconciliation.
This article was edited by The Syrian Observer. Responsibility for the information and views set out in this article lies entirely with the author.
