Iranian, Chinese Diplomats Discuss Syria in Sochi

In the meeting, held on the sidelines of the Syria peace congress in Russia’s southern city, Iranian foreign minister’s special assistant for political affairs, Hossein Jaberi Ansari, and China’s special envoy to Syria Xie Xiaoyuan discussed the most recent developments in Syria and explored avenues for creating peace in the Arab country.

They also stressed the need for cooperation between Tehran and Beijing in settling the crisis in Syria and fighting against terrorism.

Jaberi Ansari, Iran’s senior negotiator in the Astana peace negotiations, has joined the other delegates in Sochi for the conference aimed at helping resolve the seven-year civil war in Syria.

He had previously held a meeting with Russian president’s special envoy Alexander Lavrentiev for talks on the Syria congress.

Moscow, a main ally of the Damascus government, has invited some 1,600 delegates to the conference. The stated main goal of the event is the creation of a mechanism for writing a new Syrian constitution.

In comments at the opening of the event on Tuesday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said the time is ripe to end the "painful" conflict in Syria.

On November 19, Daesh (ISIL) terrorists were flushed out of their last stronghold in Syria’s Al-Bukamal. The city’s liberation marked an end to the group’s self-proclaimed caliphate it had declared in 2014.

On November 22, the presidents of Iran, Russia and Turkey held talks in Sochi on the Arab country’s crisis, coming up with a plan for a national congress for peace in Syria.

According to a report by the Syrian Center for Policy Research, the conflict has claimed the lives of over 470,000 people, injured 1.9 million others, and displaced nearly half of the country’s pre-war population of about 23 million within or beyond its borders.