Iran, Russia, Turkey Discuss Syria Peace in Astana

Hossein Jaberi Ansari, a senior assistant to Iran’s foreign minister in special political affairs; Alexander Lavrentiev, the Russian president’s special envoy on Syria; and Sedat Onal, the Deputy Undersecretary of the Turkish Foreign Ministry, held preparatory talks for the Friday meeting among foreign ministers of their respected countries.

During the meeting held on Thursday, the three chief negotiators discussed arrangements for the Friday meeting and its schedule.

Foreign ministers of the three guarantors of the Astana talks will discuss the result of the eight previous rounds of Astana talks and priorities and future agenda of the talks.

On the sidelines of the trilateral meeting, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif and his Russian and Turkish counterparts will meet with the host of Astana talks, Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev.

Earlier on Thursday, Jaberi Ansari held a bilateral meeting with Lavrentiev, during which the two sides talked about the outcome of the Syrian National Dialogue Congress held in Sochi and arrangements for the creation of a committee for constitutional reform in Syria.

They also exchanged views on the agenda of the first meeting of the working group on the release of detainees/abductees and handover of the bodies as well as the identification of missing persons in the Syria conflict.