The 16th round of Astana negotiations kicks off amid conflicting agendas

Today, the work of the 16th round of the Astana Conference negotiations will begin in the Kazakh capital, “Nur-Sultan,” in the presence of delegations from its sponsoring countries (Russia, Turkey and Iran), the delegations of the Syrian opposition and the government of the Assad regime.

The talks revolve around different agendas for each of the opposition delegations and the Assad regime, as the latter seeks to consolidate and stabilize the results of the presidential elections that Bashar al-Assad won on May 26.

The opposition delegation seeks to discuss several files, most notably the humanitarian file and ways to extend the international mechanism for the entry of humanitarian aid across the border, the field file in Idlib governorate, and the increasing violations of the March 5, 2020, ceasefire agreement, in addition to the prospects for the political process, according to what the President
The opposition delegation to Astana Ahmed Tohme to Fresh Online.

The sponsoring countries of the conference will participate with high-level personalities, as the Turkish delegation is represented by the Director of the Syria Office at the Foreign Ministry, “Selcuk Unal,” and the Iranian delegation is represented by the Assistant Foreign Minister, “Ali Asghar Haji,” and Russia is participating in two delegations representing the Ministries of Defense and Foreign Affairs, and the delegation is headed by the presidential envoy to Syria “Alexander
Lavrentiev and Stanislav Haji Mammadov, represented by the Chief of Staff.

The opposition delegation is represented by Dr. Ahmed Tohme, head of the delegation, and the Assad regime delegation is headed by Deputy Foreign Minister Ayman Susan.
Delegations from Iraq, Jordan and Lebanon are participating in an observer capacity, in addition to the UN envoy to Syria Geir Pedersen.
It is noteworthy that the 16th round of Astana talks, which started this morning, will continue over two consecutive days.