GENEVA, Oct 18 (NNN-SANA) – The latest round of Syrian constitutional talks, participated by members of the Syrian Constitutional Committee’s Small Body, will kick off in Geneva today, a United Nations envoy said, yesterday.
UN Special Envoy for Syria, Geir O. Pedersen, told a press conference here that, the parties have agreed to prepare and start drafting for constitutional reform, and “the new thing this week is that, we will actually be starting a drafting process for constitutional reform in Syria.”
The UN envoy said that, yesterday morning, he had met with the Co-Chair, nominated by the Syrian government and the Co-Chair nominated by the opposition.
“For the first time, the two Co-Chairs were sitting down together with me, for a substantial and frank discussion, on how we are to proceed with the constitutional reform and, indeed in detail, how we are planning for the week ahead of us,” Pedersen said.
The UN envoy told reporters, the humanitarian and economic situation in Syria is extremely difficult, noting, there are more than 13 million Syrians in need of humanitarian assistance.
The Syrian Constitutional Committee – which comprises representatives of the Syrian government, the opposition, and civil society – was officially launched in Geneva on Oct 30, 2019, to draft a new constitution for the war-torn country.
The Committee’s Small Body, including 45 delegates and 15 each from the three groups, has met in Geneva for five times, without making any major progress.– NNN-SANA
