DAMASCUS, Sept 24 (NNN-SANA) – Geir Pedersen, UN special envoy for Syria, said, he concluded “very successful” discussions with Syria’s Foreign Minister, Walid al-Moallem, on the formation of a constitutional committee.
Pedersen, who arrived in Syria a day earlier, said, his Monday’s meeting with al-Moallem tackled old standing issues, regarding the formation of a constitutional committee that would be tasked with rewriting the Syrian constitution.
“I have concluded another round of very successful discussion with Foreign Minister (Walid) al-Moallem. We addressed all the old standing issues related to the constitutional committee,” he told reporters.
The envoy also said that he had concluded similarly successful talks with the head of the opposition Syrian Negotiation Commission (SNC) Nasr al-Hariri, who is based in Turkey.
Pedersen’s next step is to brief the UN Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres, about the outcome of his discussions, then he will go and attend a UN session on Sept 30.
On Sept 18, Guterres said, all relevant parties in Syria agreed on the composition of a committee to rewrite the country’s constitution, and Pedersen is doing “the final work” with the parties in relation to the terms of reference.
Under an intra-Syrian agreement, reached in Sochi, Russia, in Jan, 2018, the constitutional committee is to be composed of representatives of the Syrian government, the opposition and civil society representatives, each with 50 members.
The constitutional committee is considered a key element in the Syrian political process.
