New round of Astana process kicks off

ASTANA. KAZINFORM All participants of the seventh round of Syria talks within the framework of the Astana process have arrived in Kazakhstan, the Foreign Ministry press service reports.

According to the Foreign Office, bilateral and multilateral talks scheduled for today will be held in 'closed door' format, and the plenary meeting is scheduled for October 31.

As the Foreign Ministry said earlier, all parties to the Astana talks on Syria had confirmed their participation in the upcoming talks. The Russian delegation is led by Presidential Representative for Syria Alexander Lavrentyev, the Turkish delegation is headed by Deputy Undersecretary of the Foreign Ministry Sedat Onal, while Deputy Foreign Minister for Arab and African Affairs Hossein Jaberi Ansari leads the Iranian delegation. According to Kazakhstan's Foreign Ministry, the meeting will also involve delegations of the Syrian government and opposition, while representatives of the United Nations, United States and Jordan will take part in the meeting as observers.

The meeting is aimed at preserving the results achieved in terms of strengthening the ceasefire regime in Syria, as well as increasing efforts with regard to further stabilization of the situation in the country at the stage of transition to a political settlement of the crisis.