Gatilov: Inter-Syrian Second Round of Consultative Meeting in Moscow, Early April

MOSCOW, (ST)_ Russian deputy foreign minister Gennady Gatilov announced that the next round of Inter- Syrian consultative meeting will be held in Moscow early next April.

On January 29th, the preliminary consultative meetings between the delegation of the Syrian government and the delegation of opposition figures ended up with an agreement between the government delegation and five opposition parties and other figures on a set of principles provided by Russia under the name of the principles of Moscow.

Gatilov told reporters yesterday that the Russian side “has already sent invitations to potential participants in the second round of the consultative meeting to be held in early April between the Syrians in Moscow, as well as to the Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General in Syria, Staffan de Mistura, in addition to invitations to representatives of opposition groups, who did not attend the first meeting, especially, the opposition coalition”.

Meantime, Special Representative of the Russian President for the Middle East and African countries and Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov discussed with, Syria’s Ambassador to Russia Dr. Riad Haddad friendship relations between the two countries and the prospects for a political settlement to the Syrian crisis.

In a statement yesterday, the Russian Foreign Ministry said that “the two sides exchanged views for reaching a political settlement to the crisis in Syria, and the two sides expressed understanding for prioritizing practical issues in organizing the 2nd consultative meeting among the Syrians in, early April in Moscow.”

The statement added that , ” Ambassador Haddad was briefed on the progress of preparations for the details of the scheduled event , which aims to assist the Syrian parties to reach a national consensus without external interference ,on the ground of Geneva statement of June 30th, 2012″.

 T. Fateh