World News Live Updates: Paris to host Syria talks on integrating Kurds

Syria, France and the United States said they agreed Friday to convene “as soon as possible” talks in Paris to integrate the autonomous Kurdish administration into the Syrian state.

The Kurds, who control large swathes of northeast Syria, are negotiating with the central government in Damascus on the integration of their civil and military institutions into the state.

Those include the US-backed, Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF).

The three countries “agreed on the need… to host as soon as possible the next round of consultations in Paris between the Syrian government and the Syrian Democratic Forces regarding the full implementation of the March 10 agreement”, according to a joint statement.

The statement was issued after a Friday meeting in Paris between French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot, US special envoy for Syria Tom Barrack and Damascus’s top diplomat Asaad al-Shaibani.

In March, SDF chief Mazloum Abdi and Syria’s interim President Ahmad al-Sharaa signed an agreement aimed at incorporating Kurdish institutions into the Syrian state.

Several rounds of talks have been held but the process has stalled, with Kurdish officials criticising a constitutional declaration announced by the new authorities, saying it failed to reflect Syria’s diversity.