The Syrian government confirmed Thursday that it would participate in peace talks in Geneva towards the end of January.
The announcement follows the U.N. Security Council approving a resolution last week that outlined an international roadmap to end the five-year conflict.
The Syrian government will join the Syrian opposition in Geneva to negotiate a peace deal, with the U.N. resolution calling for new elections in the country.
“We hope that this dialogue will be successful to help us have a national unity government. And this government will form a constitutional committee to create a new constitution with an electoral law so that a parliamentary election can be held within the period of 18 months, more or less,” Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Al-Moualem said.
“Our delegation will be ready as soon as we receive a list of the opposition delegation,” Moualem said, emphasizing that it was important that there was “no foreign interference” in the dialogue.
The Syrian conflict, with U.S, French, and Russian airstrikes as well as internal war between the government and various opposition groups, has seen a quarter of a million people killed and 4 million refugees forced to flee.