The next Syria talks will be held 21st-22nd of December as part of the Astana Process. According to Kazakh Ministry of Foreign Affairs Kairat Abdrakhmanov, in the upcoming meeting, the parties are planning to adopt a regulation on a working group on the release of detainees, the transfer of bodies of those deceased and the search for missing persons. Participants also intend to discuss the functioning of de-escalation zones and approve a joint statement on humanitarian demining in Syria, including UNESCO sites. Foreign experts highlight the importance of the Astana process. French professor Albert Fischler notes that the success of the international negotiations on Syria in Astana proves once again that Kazakhstan is the right place to host such meetings. The republic’s policy of peace and openness has earned the trust of the whole world.

ALBERT FISCHLER, FRENCH PROFESSOR:
- Since gaining independence, Kazakhstan has shown its ability and commitment to promoting peace by shutting down the Semipalatinsk nuclear test site. Even then Kazakhstan was both an intermediary and an example for the rest of the world. At present, the country is continuing to play a peacekeeping and mediating role in settling regional conflicts. Successful conferences on Syria in Astana prove that Kazakhstan is not accidentally chosen as the venue for holding peace talks. Well-deserved trust of the international community to your country was earned by peacekeeping policy, hospitality and openness to the world.

The United Nations is closely monitoring all the rounds of Syria talks in Astana. According to representatives of the Middle Eastern countries, the meetings held in the capital of Kazakhstan and the agreements reached yielded tangible results and helped to reduce the tensions.

NAWAF SALAM, PERMANENT REPRESENTATIVE OF LEBANON TO UNITED NATIONS:
- As we see from our part of the world, that is engineers, Kazakhstan played a leading role in the Syria conflict I mean calling for a dialogue and trying to promote political solution. And over and about from now, the Lebanese prospective, I mean Kazakhstan’s role in promoting the dialogue of civilization and of culture.