UPDATE - First Day Of Astana-14 Talks On Syria Kicks Off With Russia-Iran Meeting

NUR-SULTAN (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 10th December, 2019) SULTAN, December 10 (Sputnik) - The first day of the 14th round of Astana-format talks on Syria in the Kazakh capital has started with a bilateral meeting of Russian and Iranian delegations, a Sputnik correspondent reported.

A number of closed-door bilateral and multilateral meetings among the representatives of ceasefire guarantor states (Russia, Turkey and Iran), Syrian parties (government and opposition) and the United Nations will take place on Tuesday. On Wednesday, a plenary session will take place.

Jordan, Lebanon and Iraq are the observers. The decision to extend the number of observers and invite also Lebanon and Iraq was taken by the guarantor states in April.

Earlier in the day, Kazakh Foreign Ministry spokesman Aibek Smadiyarov told reporters that all the delegations had arrived in Nur-Sultan.

He also said that the delegation of Jordan is be headed by the ambassador of this country to Kazakhstan.

Work of the Syrian constitutional committee and the situation in Idlib are main topics on the agenda.

The Russian team is headed by Special Presidential Envoy for Syria Alexander Lavrentyev and includes Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Vershinin as well. The Turkish delegation is led by Foreign Ministry's Deputy Undersecretary Sedat Onal, and the Iranian delegation is headed by Ali Asghar Khaji, senior assistant for political affairs of Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif. Damascus is traditionally represented by Syria's Envoy to the United Nations in New York Bashar Jaafari, while the Syrian opposition - by Ahmad Tomah.

UN Special Envoy for Syria Geir Pedersen is attending the talks from the United Nations' side. Moreover, representatives of the International Committee of the Red Cross and the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees came to hold a regular meeting of the working group on the release of detainees.