Guarantor countries announce date of next round of Astana peace talks
"[The Guarantor Countries] express sincere gratitude to President Nursultan Nazarbayev and the Kazakh authorities for organizing the eighth round of the high-level international talks on Syria in Astana. And they decide to hold the next round of the high-level international talks on Syria in Astana in the latter half of February 2018," Foreign Minister of the Republic of Kazakhstan Kairat Abdrakhmanov read the statement of the guarantor countries during a plenary session.
Meanwhile, the minister noted that the current round of talks is taking place at the end of this year, "which makes the opportunity to summarize the results and determine the future goals." "First of all, I would like to highlight that the cessation of hostilities in Syria has been established for nearly 12 months, it is a substantial achievement. In spite of the fact that the current humanitarian situation in Syria is far from satisfactory, there has been a gradual improvement owing to the conflict de-escalation. However, many things still need to be solved. This includes the problem of the exchange of hostages. In our opinion, it is one of the key issues," the minister said.
Besides, Kairat Abdrakhmanov hopes that the coming year will be successful for all parties to the process. "We sincerely hope that in 2018, your efforts to establish peace in Syria will be based on the spirit of cooperation, the Astana spirit. Kazakhstan assures of its readiness to further provide you with all possible support," the minister concluded.
Earlier , the head of the Kazakh foreign ministry read out the joint statement of Iran, Russia, and Turkey following the meeting.