Moscow (UNA) – The ninth round of the Astana talks on Syria began on Monday with bilateral and multilateral consultations. The Russian President’s envoy to Syria, Alexander Lavrentiev, Turkish Deputy Foreign Minister Sedat Onal and his Iranian counterpart, Hossein Ansari, are participating in this round, while the Syrian government delegation is headed by Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Bashar al-Jaafari, in addition to the Syrian opposition delegation headed by Ahmad Tohme. The Kazakh Foreign Ministry announced in a statement that the invitation to participate in this round was also extended to representatives of the United Nations and Jordan, and that the talks will address developments in the situation in Syria, including de-escalation zones. It added that the talks will also address humanitarian issues, ways to build confidence and coordinate efforts aimed at advancing the political process in Syria, explaining that the participating delegations engaged in bilateral consultations in preparation for the general session to be held tomorrow. The United States, which previously participated in the Astana talks as an observer, decided to boycott the current round despite being invited. (End) S.J./H.S.
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