ASTANA. June 16 (Interfax) - The next round of Syria talks in the Astana format will take place in Astana, the Kazakh capital, on June 20-21, the Kazakh Foreign Ministry's press service said in a statement on Friday.
"The next, 20th international meeting on Syria in the Astana format will take place in the city of Astana on June 20-21, 2023," the statement said.
Delegations from guarantor states, i.e. Russia, Turkey and Iran, representatives of the Syrian government and the Syrian opposition, and the United Nations, Jordan, Lebanon and Iraq as observers will participate in the talks, it said.
"The agenda will include the changing regional situation around Syria, the situation on the ground, the effort towards a comprehensive settlement in Syria, the war on terrorism, confidence building measures, such as the release of hostages and search for missing persons, the humanitarian situation in Syria, mobilization of international efforts to assist in the post-conflict recovery of Syria, and facilitation of Syrian refugees' return to their home country," the statement said.
The round will begin with quadripartite consultations between deputy foreign ministers of Iran, Russia, Syria and Turkey, who will discuss work on a roadmap of Syrian-Turkish normalization, in addition to bilateral and trilateral consultations between countries participating in the Astana process, it said.
More consultations, a plenary meeting and a press conference will take place on the second day, it said.
There will also be a meeting of the working group for the release of prisoners/hostages and bodies and the search for missing persons involving representatives of the guarantor states, the United Nations, and the International Committee of the Red Cross, the ministry said.