Syria confirms willingness to participate in Moscow consultative meeting
Syria has officially confirmed its willingness to participate in the consultative meeting to be held in Moscow with opposition in order to agree on launching a dialogue conference among Syrians without foreign intervention.
The confirmation came in a statement made by a source at Foreign and Expatriates Ministry to the official news agency (SANA) on Saturday.
The source said: “In the light of current consultations between the Syrian Arab Republic and Russia Federation Republic over holding a preliminary consultative meeting in Moscow that aim to agree on holding a dialogue conference among Syrians without any foreign intervention, Syrian Arab Republic confirms its readiness to take part in the meeting in order to meet the aspirations of Syrians to find a way out of crisis.”
It added that Syria will go ahead with fighting terrorism everyplace in the country in parallel with expanding local reconciliations that proved its effectiveness in more than one area.
“Syria has always been and still ready for dialogue with those who believe in Syria’s unity, sovereignty and independent decision in accordance with Syrian people’s will and aspirations to achieve security and peace and to stop the bloodshed in the country,” the source concluded.
Next January
Three days ago, a source at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation declared that a meeting is scheduled to be held between representatives of the Syrian Government and the opposition in Moscow by the end of next January.
A wider spectrum of the Syrian opposition will take part in the four-day meeting, the source added.
In addition, special envoy of the Russian President, Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov, and Syria’s Ambassador to Russia Riyad Haddad debated prospects of political settlement for the crisis in Syria.
The Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement released on Wednesday that “the parties paid priority attention to the implementation of Russia’s idea for holding the inter-Syrian preparatory contacts in Moscow to contribute to launching a dialogue between the Syrian government and the opposition without preconditions on the basis of the Geneva communiqué of June 30, 2012.”
Basma Qaddour