Astana hosts technical meeting on Syrian crisis settlement

    The technical meeting on Syria is started in Astana on Monday with the participation of representatives from Russia, Turkey and Iran, media reports say. UN and Jordanian experts are also taking part in the meeting, RIA Novosti reported citing its sources.
    They will discuss how a ceasefire in Syria is being implemented.
    On February 1, UN Special Envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura said that there would be a technical meeting on February 6 and Kazakh foreign ministry spokesman Anuar Zhainakov confirmed the statement.
    Russian Defense Ministry reported earlier that such meetings will be regular.
    Astana hosted January 23-24 the international meeting on Syrian settlement brokered by Russia, Iran and Turkey. Representatives of the Syrian government and the armed opposition groups met for the first time since the beginning of the Syrian war in 2011.
    During the negotiations, the Russian delegation presented to the parties a draft of the Syrian constitution, sending it later to the office of the UN special envoy for Syria. The Syrian opposition also elaborated its own proposals on amending country's constitution.
    Turkey, Russia and Iran made a joint statement at the end of the meeting, stressing their commitment to the sovereignty, independence, unity and territorial integrity of Syria. They said the three countries support talks between the Syrian government and armed opposition groups and believe that there is no military solution to the conflict.
    In 2015, Astana hosted two rounds of talks between some Syrian opposition groups and provided humanitarian aid to the Syrian people in the amount of 500 tonnes in December 2016, AKIpress reported.
    The head of the Russian delegation, Deputy Chief of the Central Operating Department of the Russian Armed Forces General Headquarters Stanislav Gadzhimagomedov commented on the meeting outcome.
    "Today the delegation of Russia, Turkey and Iran as well as the United Nations representatives have held the first session of the working group which was formed following the arrangements made here in Astana on January 23-24. The participants of the meeting discussed the progress of the cease fire regime observance in Syria, the special measures on creation of effective monitoring and control to ensure total observance of cease fire regime, prevention of any provocative acts and definition of all modalities of the regime", Gadzhimagomedov said.
    According to him, the participants also discussed the measures of mutual trust and free access of humanitarian aid.
    The delegations confirmed their readiness to continue interaction for the benefit of total fulfillment of the cease fire regime in Syria.
    "All members of the delegations express sincere gratitude to Kazakhstan for having provided the platform in Astana for us to continue the Astana process and for creating favorable conditions for the working group to hold its first meeting", the head of the Russian delegation said.
    As earlier reported, on January 23-24 in Kazakhstan Astana process was conducted to settle the situation in Syria. The parties to the negotiations were the Syrian Government and 13 Syrian opposition groups and guarantor states - Russia, Iran and Turkey, and UN Special Envoy Staffan de Mistura. The meeting resulted in adoption of three-party mechanism of cease fire regime in Syria, according to Kazinform.
    On Monday evening, participants of the international technical meeting on the Syrian settlement made a statement, Kazpavda.kz reported.
    The head of the Russian delegation, Deputy chief of the main operational Directorate of the Russian General staff Stanislav Gadzhimagomedov voiced the general statement at the press conference in the Central Communications Service.
    "Today, February 6, the Delegation of Russia, Turkey and Iran, as well as representatives of the United Nations, held the first meeting of the joint group in Astana, set up in accordance with the agreements reached at the international meeting on Syria, which was held here on 23-24 January. The meeting discussed the implementation of the cessation of hostilities in Syria, special measures for the creation of a mechanism for effective monitoring and controls in order to ensure full compliance with the cessation of hostilities, prevent any provocations and determine all the modalities of the regime, "- said Stanislav Gadzhimagomedov.
    Also, according to the speaker, the participants discussed measures of mutual trust and unhindered humanitarian access.
    "The delegations reaffirmed their readiness to continue cooperation for the benefit of the full implementation of the cessation of hostilities in Syria. All the delegation members expressed their gratitude to Kazakhstan for providing a venue for the continuation of the Astana process and creation of favorable conditions for carrying out in Astana the first meeting of the joint group on controlling the observance of cessation of hostilities regime ", he added, according to the Kazakhstanskaya Pravda.