The Kazakh Foreign Ministry has announced the date for the upcoming round of the Astana process regarding Syria, taking place in the Kazakh capital in two days.
According to a statement from the ministry today, Friday, November 8, Kazakhstan has set the dates for the “Astana 22” Conference for November 11 and 12, as reported by the Russian news agency TASS.
On the first day, there will be bilateral and trilateral consultations among the delegations, which will continue on the following day. A general session and a press conference are scheduled to take place after the second day of the conference, according to the statement.
The agenda of the meeting will address developments in the Syrian file, efforts aimed at achieving a comprehensive political solution in Syria, confidence-building measures, and the issue of missing persons, in addition to humanitarian conditions and the file of reconstruction and the return of Syrian refugees.
On October 9, the Russian Foreign Ministry stated that it was working on preparations for a new round of Astana negotiations regarding Syria after a ten-month hiatus.
In ten months
The latest round of the Astana process took place on January 25, with representatives from the guarantor states (Russia, Turkey, Iran), the regime and opposition delegations, and the presence of Jordan, Lebanon, and Iraq as observers, alongside the United Nations and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC).
During the 21st round of Astana, the participating parties agreed to hold the 22nd round of negotiations regarding Syria in the capital of Kazakhstan in the second half of this year.
The Astana process began in January 2017, and over 21 previous rounds, meetings of the process took place with the participation of leaders from three countries, two of which are politically, militarily, and economically allied with the Syrian regime (Russia and Iran), while the other has sought to open the door to political rapprochement with the regime since late 2022 (Turkey), along with representatives from the Syrian regime, opposition, and observers.
Through this process, the participating countries reached agreements on “de-escalation,” which Russia has violated multiple times, seizing areas in Syria that were included in these agreements.
In contrast, the United States announced its boycott of the Astana process since the 15th round held in February 2021, after previously attending as an observer in earlier rounds.
At that time, the US Ambassador to Kazakhstan, William H. Moser, stated that his country does not plan to return as an observer to the so-called “Astana format” and considers the Geneva talks under the auspices of the United Nations to be the best way to resolve the situation in Syria.