Syrian Arab Republic ‘s Delegation to Arrive in Geneva Sunday to Resume 8th Round of Intra-Syrian Talks
DAMASCUS, (ST)- The delegation of the Syrian Arab Republic is due to arrive in Geneva on Sunday to take part in the second part of the 8th round of the intra-Syrian talks, a source at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates announced on Thursday.
According to the source, the delegation , which is led by Syria’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations Bashar Al-Jaafari, will return to Damascus on Friday December 15, 2017.
The first part of the 8th round of the talks was concluded on December 1st.
In a press conference following the talks, al-Jaafari said that there are some parties who seek undermining Geneva talks through imposing preconditions, pointing out that the “Riyadh II” statement, which is categorically rejected, aims at hindering the success of dialogue in Geneva.
According to the Syrian News Agency (SANA), the UN Special Envoy to Syria Staffan de Mistura reaffirmed that the intra Syrian talks in Geneva must be held without preconditions.
“We seek to have meaningful and direct talks… I’m not authorized to give advice to anyone… I am playing the role of a mediator”, de Mistura told the journalists in a press conference in Geneva on Thursday.
He went on saying that “The Syrian government has informed us that its delegation will turn back to Geneva next Sunday”, expressing readiness to carry on with the talks until December, 15th.
He said that the talks would focus on the paper with the 12 principles, in addition to the issues related to the Constitution and the elections.
De Mistura saw that if Geneva talks failed that would hinder the proposing of other initiatives on resolving the crisis in Syria, indicating that the talks will be evaluated next week.
Hamda Mustafa