De Mistura: First meeting on March 14 in Geneva will be with Syrian government delegation

Geneva, SANA – UN Special Envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura announced that the first meeting scheduled to be held in Geneva on March 14 will be with the delegation of the Syrian Arab Republic.

“Tradition is that the first meeting is always with the government” de Mistura told Russian news agency Sputnik, adding “I plan to have the first substantive, deeper discussion on Monday already and from then, until the 24th of March, to have many meetings with the different components of the Syrian environment.”

According to the UN envoy, a new approach is being adopted for the meetings called “proximity staggered talks” which will allow de Mistura to meet various groups both at the UN office in Geneva, as well as at the hotel or other places.

“Flexibility is the name of the game. The most important thing is an outcome and second – inclusivity,” de Mistura said.

“The most important point is the three-point agenda, which has been defined by the Security Council and which the Russian Federation adopted, too, which is resolution 2254. The first one is an all-inclusive new government,” he added.

The envoy went on saying that “The second one is a new constitution and the third one is new elections in 18 months from the beginning of the talks, so from the 14th of this month, to provide both parliamentarian and presidential elections and the UN supervision in 18 months.”

He pointed out “I find that the agreement reached in Munich, thanks to the initiative of both the United States and the Russian Federation, has been extremely important, “adding that “The cessation of hostilities in Syria is generally holding, although some problems and violations do occur.”

Reem/H. Said

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