Lavrov, UN envoy to discuss establishment of Syria's Constitutional Committee
By Trend
UN Special Envoy for Syria Geir Pedersen is coming to Moscow following his first visit to Damascus on 15-18 January, where he met with Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Muallem and later described the meeting as "constructive," - Trend reports citing Sputnik.
The UN envoy also met with the opposition Syrian Negotiation Committee (SNC) in Riyadh, pledging to work with both Syrian parties to "build confidence and advance Geneva political process."
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Friday, commenting on Pedersen's upcoming visit, that Moscow was interested to hear the UN envoy's position on the Syrian constitutional committee, meant to draft the country's new constitution.
The agreement to establish the committee was reached at the Syrian National Dialogue Congress, which was held in the Russian resort city of Sochi in January 2018. However, the parties involved have so far failed to agree on the composition of the body. The body is expected to include the representatives of the Syrian government, opposition and the civil society.
Following a November meeting on Syria in the Kazakh capital city of Astana, then-UN Special Envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura regretted the lack of progress in overcoming "the ten-month stalemate on the composition of the constitutional committee."