This is what our MAPSIR student Jamilya Nurkanova has reported from the Syria peace talks in Astana:

“I had a unique chance to participate in the negotiations on Syrian settlement that took place in Astana on January 23-24th, by being part of the BBC team. My role was to help and assist Khashayar Joneidi and his crew in many ways: by translating some of the press-briefings, looking for experts for their commentaries, and by sharing my insights in Kazakhstan’s foreign policy. This experience allowed me to witness how more than 400 journalists from all over the world, including Al Jazeera, the New York Times, DW, and CNN, were working on gathering, processing, and delivering breaking news from a behind the doors meeting. Furthermore, it exposed me to a high-level meeting, where Kazakhstan had one of the leading roles in facilitating safety and peace of the opposing parties”.