Regulations on working group on hostages is to be approved at 7th Astana meeting on Syria

ASTANA, October 19. /TASS/. The participants of the seventh international Astana meeting on Syria plan to approve regulations on the working group on release of hostages, Kazakhstani Foreign Ministry’s press service reported on Thursday. "At the negotiations, it is planned to approve regulations on the working group on release of hostages and prisoners, release of bodies and search for those missing," the report says. The ministry said that the parties also plan to study anti-terrorism issues and take a joint statement on humanitarian demining in Syria. "Other issues of common interest may also be discussed," the Foreign Ministry specified. The sixth international meeting on Syria was held in Astana on September 14-15. It completed establishment of all four de-escalation zones in Syria that had been under development since early May. The negotiations involved the delegations of the ceasefire guarantor states (Russia, Turkey and Iran), the Syrian government, the Syrian armed opposition, Special Envoy of the Secretary-General for Syria Staffan de Mistura and representatives from Jordan and the US as observers. Read more