The launch of the fifteenth round meetings of Astana talks on the political and humanitarian situation in Syria
The works of the fifteenth round of the Astana talks began today, Tuesday, in the Russian city of Sochi, with bilateral technical meetings between the participating delegations, provided that they will continue tomorrow with the final main session to announce the final statement, with the participation of the guarantor countries Russia, Iran and Turkey, with the aim of discussing developments in the political and humanitarian situation in Syria.
“First and foremost, we need to summarize the results, find out where we are now, define the real criteria for the settlement process and start implementing it,” Alexander Lavrentiev, the Russian President’s special envoy to Syria, said at a press conference about the goals that the talks seek to achieve.
Lavrentiev added: “We sent an invitation to our American partners to participate in the Astana talks, but unfortunately it was rejected. Nevertheless, we were able to prepare for this meeting now, in February. Delegations from the Turkish Republic, Iran, the Syrian opposition, and the Syrian government have arrived.”
Lavrentiev noted that an UN delegation headed by the UN Special Envoy to Syria, Geir Pedersen, arrived in Sochi, as delegations from the High Commissioner for Refugees and the International Committee of the Red Cross arrived, and observers from Jordan, Iraq and Lebanon arrived.
The two-day talks are taking place with the participation of a UN and Arab, and the UN special envoy to Syria, Geir Pedersen, and these meetings are of great importance for the course of the political process on Syria after the failure of the fifth round of meetings of the Constitutional Committee held in Geneva, due to the position of the Assad regime refusing to enter into the discussion of constitutional contents.
