The ninth round of the high level Astana meetings on Syria was held on 14-15 May 2018.

At the meeting, the participants reviewed mainly the state of affairs regarding the implementation of the de-escalation memorandum as well as the establishment of the Constitutional Committee which was declared at the Syrian National Dialogue Congress. The issues of fight against terrorism in Syria and improvement of humanitarian access were also addressed.

At the meeting, we registered our reservations on the forced evacuation operations conducted in Eastern Ghouta and in the north of Homs, as well as on the law that paves the way for the confiscation of the properties of Syrian refugees and IDPs.

On the sidelines of the meeting, also the second meeting of the Working Group established for the release of detainees/abductees was held. The next meeting of the Working Group will be hosted by Turkey.

It was decided that the 10th round of the high level meetings in the Astana format will be held next July in Sochi.