ASTANA. Jan 19 (Interfax) - Astana is scheduled to host the 21st meeting on Syria on January 24-25, Kazakh Foreign Ministry spokesman Aibek Smadiyarov said.
"The 21st international meeting on Syria within the framework of the Astana process will take place in the capital of Kazakhstan on January 24-25. It has been resumed by the joint request of the guarantor countries," Smadiyarov said in the parliament on Friday.
Delegations from Russia, Turkey, Iran, the Syrian government and the Syrian opposition will take part in the negotiations, the Kazakh Foreign Ministry's press service said. Representatives of Jordan, Iraq and Lebanon, the United Nations, the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, and the International Committee of the Red Cross are expected as observers.
"The tentative agenda includes regional developments around Syria, the effort towards a comprehensive settlement in Syria, the humanitarian situation in Syria, and mobilization of international efforts to assist in the post-conflict recovery of Syria," the Kazakh Foreign Ministry said.
After the 20th meeting on Syria held in the Astana format in June 2023, the Kazakh Foreign Ministry proposed that it would be the last meeting of the format. It said that the Astana format had achieved all of its objectives.
The ministry said later that Kazakhstan was ready to consider the possible resumption of the talks on Syria "as a goodwill gesture."
The Astana-format talks on Syria began in the Kazakh capital in January 2017 at the proposal of then Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev.