Sputnik - Consultations on Syria in Astana have entered the second day with the arrivals of the Russian and Iranian delegations to the talks venue, a Sputnik correspondent reported on Wednesday.


ASTANA (Sputnik)�� A joint session of�all participants is expected around�1.00�� 2.00 pm local time (07:00-08:00 GMT).


The Russian delegation is headed by�special presidential envoy for�Syria Alexander Lavrentiev, while the Damascus delegation is headed by�Syria's Envoy to�the United Nations Bashar Jaafari.

Iran is represented by�Deputy Foreign Minister for�Arab and African Affairs Hossein Jaberi Ansari, while Turkey is represented by�Foreign Ministry Deputy Undersecretary Sedat Onal.

Syria's armed opposition has so far refused to�attend the new meeting on�Syria in�the Kazakh capital.

The agenda of�the third round�of the talks in�Astana presupposed that the delegations of�the Syrian authorities and armed opposition as�well as�the international mediators, such as�Russia, Turkey and Iran would focus on�the map of�terrorists' presence in�the war-torn state.

The first round�of Astana talks on�Syria brokered by�Russia, Turkey and Iran were held on�January 23-24 and resulted in�a Moscow-Tehran-Ankara agreement on�the establishment of�a trilateral mechanism to�monitor the ceasefire in�Syria.

The second round�of the Astana talks took place on�February 15-16, with�the participants agreeing to�set up�a ceasefire monitoring group, encompassing Iran, Russia and Turkey, that would report to�the United Nations.

The third round�of intra-Syrian talks in�Astana, taking place on�March 14-15, will include consultations on�the first day and a plenary session on�Wednesday.