21st International Meeting on Syria under Astana format starts activities

 Astana, SANA- The 21st International Meeting on Syria under Astana format started activities on Wednesday morning in the Kazakh capital. 

The delegation of the Syrian Arab Republic, headed by the Deputy Foreign and Expatriates Minister, Bassam Sabbagh, and the delegations of the guarantor states of the Astana process (Russia, Iran, and Turkey) will take part in the meeting. 

The Russian delegation is headed by President Putin’s Special Envoy to Syria, Alexander Lavrentiev, and the Iranian delegation is headed by the Senior Assistant to Iranian Foreign Minister for Special Political Affairs, Ali Asghar Khaji, in addition to a United Nations delegation headed by the United Nations Deputy Envoy to Syria, Najat Rushdi. 

The meeting will last for two days, and in addition to the delegations of the guarantor states, representatives of neighboring countries (Lebanon, Iraq and Jordan) will participate as observers, and representatives of the United Nations, the High Commissioner for Refugee (UNHCR) and the International Committee of the Red Cross will participate in it. 

The Kazakh Foreign Ministry stated earlier that the agenda of the meeting will discuss issues related to the development of the regional situation surrounding Syria, efforts to resolve the crisis, the humanitarian situation in the country, and mobilizing the efforts of the international community to contribute to reconstruction. 

Russian political analysts noted that the international meeting this time will witness discussions on the latest developments in the situation in the region in light of the continued Israeli aggression on the Gaza Strip, the Israeli attacks on Syrian and Lebanese lands, as well as the continued US occupation of parts of Syrian territories and the plundering of the Syrian people’s wealth and natural resources. 

The first day of the international meeting will witness bilateral and tripartite meetings between the participating delegations, while on the second day the plenary session will be held in which the final statement of the meeting will be read, and press conferences will be held for the heads of some of the participating delegations. 

The 20th meeting under the Astana format was held in the Kazakh capital on June 20 and 21, 2023, and its final statement included, in its first clause, an emphasis on respect for Syria’s sovereignty, unity, and territorial integrity.