Saudi King Acknowledges Importance of Astana Process for Bringing Peace to Syria

Saudi Arabia’s King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud recognized the importance of the Astana talks in bringing peace to Syria and praised the contribution of the Kazakh leader to the international efforts to resolve the crisis.

ASTANA (Sputnik) — King Salman recognized the importance of the Astana talks in bringing peace to Syria during his meeting with Kazakh Foreign Minister Kairat Abdrakhmanov on Wednesday, the Kazakh Foreign Ministry said in a statement Wednesday.

"The monarch noted the importance of the Astana process for the perspective to bring peace and security to Syria and welcomed the contribution of our leader and Kazakhstan to the international efforts in this direction," the statement said.

According to the ministry, Abdrakhmanov relayed to the Saudi king the invitation of Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev to attend the summit of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) on science and technologies, which will take place in Astana on September 10-11.

During the meeting, Abdrakhmanov also expressed Kazakhstan's commitment toward the continued strengthening of bilateral cooperation with Saudi Arabia.

Kazakhstan's capital of Astana has hosted three rounds of talks on Syrian settlement brokered by Russia, Turkey and Iran: January 23-24, February 15-16, and March 14-15. The next round is scheduled for May 3-4. During the talks, the participants agreed, among other decisions, to set up a ceasefire monitoring group.