PREVIEW - UN Envoy Pedersen Expects Important New Session Of Syrian Constitutional Committee

GENOA (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 25th January, 2021) The Small Body of the Syrian Constitutional Committee (CC) is going to reconvene on Monday for a new round of talks, which UN Special Envoy for Syria Geir Pedersen expects to be important as it may open the way for the actual drafting of the future constitution.

The fifth round mediated by Pedersen will take place in Geneva on January 25-29. It will be held in the format of the so-called Small Body - 45 members out of 150 participants of the committee in total, including co-chairs Ahmad Kuzbari from the government side and Hadi Bahra from the opposition side.

"I do believe that the upcoming meeting starting on Monday is a very important one. For more than a year, many subjects have been discussed and after the last session I indicated that I saw some potential for some common ground. I hope to see more of this during the next session," Pedersen said at a press conference ahead of the meeting.

He added that the UN needs to ensure that the committee moves from general discussions to the actual drafting of the provisions of the future document by considering specific constitutional issues.

During the previous session of the CC Small Body on November 30 - December 4 in Geneva, the sides proposed basic principles that should be respected across the country. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, in an interview in late December, called that round "very promising" and expressed "cautious optimism" that the committee would begin substantive work on the constitution during its meeting in January.

During his press conference, Pedersen noted that the United Nations would be ensuring the strictest health and safety protocols, as the meeting is taking place amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

The decision to form a body of 150 Syrians with equally-sized delegations from the government, opposition and civil society (the so-called middle Third) and tasked with amending and rewriting the nation's constitution was made back in January 2018, during the Syrian National Dialogue Congress organized by Russia in Sochi. However, it was not until October 30, 2019, that the committee could hold its first session.