On Monday evening, the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Didier Reynders, called for all parties involved in the Syrian conflict to make progress in substantive negotiations, with the largest possible involvement. This followed a meeting in Brussels with the Chief Negotiator or the Syrian Opposition, Nasr al-Hariri.
The aim of this meeting was to investigate how to start negotiations between all parties, including the various players on the ground.
Mr Reynders told the media of the desire for the regime of the President, Bachar al-Assad, to give a clear signal of its willingness to start genuine negotiations, and its clear commitment to power-sharing and to leading Syria in an alternative way.
Mr Hariri, who was accompanied by a delegation of the Syrian Negotiation Committee (SNC), also met the High Representative of the European Union for Foreign affairs and Security Policy, Federica Mogherini.
For his part, Mr Hariri, stressed the interest in the political process underway in Geneva.
A fresh round of talks on the Syrian conflict is anticipated over three days, from January 21st in Geneva, under the aegis of the Special Envoy for Syria, Staffan de Mistura.
Mr Hariri says that only this process can offer the guarantee of an “honest” political transition as part of the UN resolution 2254, the international roadmap for regulating the settlement of the conflict. This involves a Syrian framework for governance, a constitution and elections.
The Brussels Times
