Sputnik- The Kazakh Foreign Ministry's press service confirmed in a Wednesday statement that the beginning of the Astana talks on Syrian settlement has been delayed until Thursday noon (06:00 GMT).





ALMATY (Kazakhstan) (Sputnik)�� The next round�of Astana talks was expected to�take place on�February 15-16, however on�Tuesday Syria's state television said that the beginning of�the negotiations had been postponed until�Thursday, because the delegations of�both the Syrian armed opposition and Turkey had not arrived in�Astana yet.

"Dear colleagues, the beginning of�the next high-level session, within�the framework of�the Astana process on�the Syrian settlement has been moved to�noon of�February 16, 2017," the statement said.

Delegations from�Russia, Iran, Syrian government and invited UN officials have already arrived in�Astana.

The first round�of Astana talks on�Syrian crisis settlement brought together the representatives of�the Syrian government and the armed opposition groups for�the first time in�the six years of�the Syrian war. As a result of�the talks, Russia, Iran and Turkey agreed to�establish a trilateral mechanism to�monitor the ceasefire that came into�effect on�December 30, 2016.