The round of intra-Syrian talks in Geneva, which is ending on Friday, brought certain results during the discussion on constitutional issues, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Gennady Gatilov told reporters.
“This round of intra-Syrian talks under the UN auspices has not been in vain,” Gatilov said.
The sides supported the proposal of Staffan de Mistura, the UN’s special envoy for Syria, to start discussing constitutional and legal issues, he said.
Russian Special Presidential Envoy for the Middle East and Africa, Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov told TASS that he had not expected any tangible results of this round of talks in the Swiss city.
Bogdanov noted that a large-scale work on achieving settlement in Syria will continue.
The talks, which began on May 16, focused on four issues, namely Syria’s governance, new constitution, preparations for elections and war on terror, Bogdanov said. “In my opinion, there are two more issues – social and economic recovery of Syria and the return of a huge number of Syrian refugees who are outside their native country.” “Certainly, we should deal with this also,” he stressed.
The diplomat said the representatives of the government delegation and the opposition have different approaches to the priority of these issues and “the goal of de Mistura is to reach a compromise.”