The foreign ministers of Iran, Russia and Turkey are set to meet in Kazakhstan next week as the three countries attempt to move forward with a plan to end nearly seven years of war in Syria.

Kazakhstan’s foreign ministry said Tuesday that the top diplomats of Moscow, Tehran and Turkey would hold a March 16 meeting in the capital Astana “without observers or Syrian sides.”

The statement also said that the United Nations Syria envoy Staffan de Mistura would be invited to the meeting.

Talks on Syria in Astana, which have usually involved the government and foreign-backed militant opposition delegations, as well as the three guarantors, began in January 2017.

They run parallel to UN-led negotiations in Geneva and were credited with bringing about a reduction in hostilities between government and foreign-backed insurgents after the agreement on the safe zones was reached.

Source: AFP