AKIPRESS.COM - The next round of talks on settling the Syrian crisis will take place in Astana on October 30-31 and focus on the release of hostages, prisoners, the transfer of bodies of the dead and the search for missing persons, the Kazakh Foreign Ministry said on Thursday.
Kazakhstan hosts the talks which have in the past few months focused on establishing de-escalation zones in Syria.
During the next talks, the parties plan to approve the regulations on the working group for freeing hostages and prisoners, transferring bodies of the dead and searching for the missing.
The parties will also review the fight against international terrorism and adopt joint statement on humanitarian demining in Syria, the Kazakh MFA said.
The talks, which began in January, have so far produced no breakthrough. In September talks, guarantor states Russia, Iran and Turkey agreed on the setup of four de-escalation zones in Syria. De-escalation zones were planned to be a temporary measure which will initially last 6 months and will be automatically extended on the basis of guarantors’ consensus." At the same time, the de-escalation zones will help "maintain the ceasefire, to ensure the territorial integrity of Syria and continue to fight terrorism," the document adds.