Implementing Results of Sochi Syrian Congress Would be Major Input in Political Settlement in Syria

MOSCOW- Russia’s President Vladimir Putin discussed in a telephone conversation with Kazakhstan’s President Nursultan Nazarbayev the Syrian National Dialogue Congress in Sochi, the Kremlin said on Saturday, Itar Tass reported.

“Nazarbayev hailed the successfully organized Congress of the Syrian National Dialogue in Sochi on January 30,” the Kremlin’s press service said. “Implementation of the decisions, taken during the Congress, would be a major input in the political settlement in Syria under the auspices of the UN. In this context, they stressed the demand for continuing work in the Astana format”.

Nebenzya : Syrian Congress in Sochi to give impetus to Geneva process

 In the same context, Russia’s Ambassador to the United Nations Vasily Nebenzya said that the Congress of Syrian National Dialogue in Sochi would not “diminish” the Geneva process, but should give it a new impetus

“The accusations we can hear say that we want to diminish the Geneva process – they are not true to life, we want to give a new impetus to the Geneva process,” he said in an interview with the Rossiya 1 television channel.

Earlier, the UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres thanked Russia and personally Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov to cooperation with the global organization in the forum’s preparations.

On January 31, participants in the Syrian National Dialogue Congress, held in the Russian Black Sea resort of Sochi, adopted a 12-point statement outlining positions on their country’s future. The document stipulates Syria should maintain its sovereignty and territorial integrity, stressing at the same time the Syrian people hold the prerogative to determine the country’s future through elections.

According to organizers, the Sochi Syrian Congress brought together 1,511 delegates representing all strata of Syrian society. Key regional and global players attended the event as observers. The forum’s key task was to organize a commission on the country’s constitution..

H.M