Syrian Arab Republic Delegation Holds Talks with de Mistura

 GENEVA– The delegation of the Syrian Arab Republic, led by Dr. Bashar al-Jaafari, on Monday held a session of talks with UN Special Envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura at the UN HQ in Geneva within the framework of the seventh session of the intra-Syrian dialogue.

So far, the UN hasn’t announced any other meetings with the opposition delegations, according to SANA.

De Mistura pledged to exert huge efforts to push the Syrian talks in Geneva forward.

 He affirmed the need to make use of the positive outcomes achieved at Astana meetings on Syria to make progress in the 7th round of the Syrian-Syrian dialogue being held in Geneva.

“We don’t expect any breakthrough although we support that, but we want to see important developments which have given the positive results like those of Astana, which can be used in addition to the regional and international situation to allow us to make achievements in Geneva talks,” de Mistura said in press conference held in Geneva on Monday.

He added that the context of Astana and Geneva are correlated as there were a lot of good work in Astana meetings, mainly de-escalation zones.

De Mistura affirmed that the establishment of de-escalation zones in Syria is a temporal process which shouldn’t target the territorial integrity of Syria.

In the same context, de Mistura held a meeting with a number of Ambassadors to the United Nations to inform them about the 7th round of the Syrian-Syrian dialogue being held in Geneva.

De Mistura met also heads of the delegations of Moscow, Cairo and Riyadh platforms on a work lunch.

Earlier on the day, Moscow platform announced holding talks and preliminary consultations with Riyadh and Cairo platforms in Geneva, describing them as positive. De Mistura also held a session of talks with the Syrian Arab Republic delegation headed by Dr. Bashar al-Jaafari at the UN HQ.

In a statement to journalists, de Mistura pledged to make great efforts to push forward the Syrian talks in Geneva.