All parties to 8th Astana round confirm attendance at Dec 21-22 talks - Kazakh Foreign Ministry
ASTANA. Dec 20 (Interfax) - All parties to the 8th Astana round of the intra-Syrian negotiations have confirmed their attendance at the meeting, which will take place in the Kazakh capital on December 21-22, the Kazakh Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
"Delegations of the guarantor countries of the Syria ceasefire implementation will arrive in Astana for the next round of negotiations scheduled for December 21-22," the ministry said.
The president's special representative for Syria, Alexander Lavrentyev, will head the Russian delegation, while Turkish Deputy Foreign Minister Sedat Onal and Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Hossein Jaberi Ansari will be his colleagues, the ministry said.
"The meeting will also be attended by delegations of the Syrian government, the Syrian opposition, the United Nations, and observer countries - the United States and Jordan," the ministry said.
Bilateral and multilateral consultations will be held on December 21, while the plenary meeting will take place on December 22, the ministry said.