NEWYORK,(ST)_ Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called for activating preparations for the international conference on the crisis in Syria.
Lavrov and Ban Ki also called during a working dinner in New York to “stop the escalation of the humanitarian crisis and the growing violence in Syria,” according to Russia Today Web site and Ban stressed the need to reach a political solution to the crisis.
In a press conference with Secretary of Foreign Affairs of Ghana in Moscow on Wednesday Lavrov said that his country was “waiting for a response from the Syrian opposition to participate in the international conference to be held on Syria in Geneva, and it will continue to call on the Syrian opposition to join the table of negotiations.” recalling that “the Syrian government confirmed its readiness to participate in the conference without preconditions.”
It is scheduled that Lavrov and Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu will meet later in the day in Washington, with their American counterparts John Kerry and Chuck Hegel to conduct consultations on the situation in Syria and other issues.
T. Fateh