Russian Foreign Ministry Says Optimistic About Launch Of Syrian Constitutional Committee

Russian Foreign Ministry Says Optimistic About Launch of Syrian Constitutional Committee

BERLIN (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 06th April, 2019) Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Vershinin told reporters on Friday that little was left to do on the launch of the Syrian constitutional committee, adding that he felt optimistic about this milestone in process of the Syrian crisis settlement.

"We are on the path to this. I think that today little has been left to do. We are in contact with Mr. Geir Pedersen [UN special envoy for Syria], the Iranians and Turks, as well as with Damascus and the opposition. I am optimistic," Vershinin said on the sidelines of the Russian-German consultations, held in Berlin.

The high-ranking diplomat recalled that the formation and launch of a constitutional committee, which was decided at the Syrian National Dialogue Congress in Sochi last January, "would open a new page in the matter of a reliable settlement of the Syrian conflict.

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The agreement to form a constitutional committee was reached during the Syrian National Dialogue Congress in the Russian city of Sochi back in January 2018. The panel is expected to be made up of representatives of the government and opposition, Syrian experts, members of civil society, independents, tribal leaders, and women, according to the statement from the congress.

Russia, Turkey and Iran have been key foreign players in organizing the committee, and the United Nations has been helping to draft the list of the committee's future members. In December 2018, then-UN Special Envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura noted that efforts to establish the committee were worth going the "extra mile."