Date Of Next Round Of Astana Syria Talks Announced

ASTANA. KAZINFORM - The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Kazakhstan announced the date of the next round of the Astana Process on settlement of the situation in Syria, Kazinform correspondent reports. "The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Kazakhstan informs that the guarantor countries of the Astana process have confirmed the holding of the next 9th International High-Level Meeting on Syria on 14th and 15th May 2018 in the capital of Kazakhstan," the statement says. The ministry says that the delegations of the government and opposition groups of Syria, the UN, the U.S. and Jordan as observers were invited to the meeting alongside the guarantor states - Iran, Russia and Turkey. "According to information received from the guarantor countries, during the talks in Astana, the parties intend to consider the current situation in Syria, including in the de-escalation zones, discuss humanitarian and confidence-building measures, and coordinate further steps to advance the process of resolving the crisis in that Arab country," the Foreign Ministry said. It is planned to hold bilateral and multilateral consultations on May 14. As to the plenary meeting, it is scheduled for May 15.