Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and UN Secretary-General's Special Envoy for Syria Geir Pedersen will hold talks in Moscow on Thursday to discuss the outcome of the 16th international meeting in the Astana format on Syria.
This will be Pedersen's seventh visit to the Russian capital in this position and his second this year. His last visit took place in February after the Syrian conference in Sochi.
The talks come two weeks after the July 7-8 meeting on Syria in Nur-Sultan, where participants discussed prospects for resuming the work of the Constitutional Committee in Geneva, humanitarian assistance to the Arab republic, the fight against terrorism and the political situation in Syria after the presidential elections.
Preparing for Geneva
Lavrov and Pedersen are expected to focus on preparations for the sixth session of the drafting committee of the Syrian Constitutional Committee in Geneva. The previous session was held in January this year. After the session UN representative stated that the sides failed to achieve their goals.
Despite the fact that no specific date for the sixth session was set during the talks in Nur-Sultan, the Russian President's Special Representative for Syria, Alexander Lavrentyev, said it could take place in the summer. For his part, Pedersen promised to work out the dates of the meeting and said he hoped the committee would resume its work soon and that the meetings would become regular.
Based on the results of the meeting in Nur-Sultan, the guarantor countries of the Astana process (Russia, Iran and Turkey) called in a joint statement for holding the sixth meeting of the committee as soon as possible. According to Lavrentyev, there are still discrepancies between the negotiators within the framework of the Committee, but there are all the prerequisites and all the conditions for the organization of the meeting.
As Lavrov pointed out before, Pedersen was facing the task of stimulating the Syrian sides to dialogue. According to the Minister, the Special Envoy of the UN Secretary-General must not impose his vision on the Syrian sides, but help them reach an agreement.
Increased assistance
The humanitarian situation in Syria remains an important topic of discussion. On July 9, the UN Security Council adopted a resolution on cross-border assistance to the republic, which was prepared for the first time as a result of the joint work of Moscow and Washington. The Russian Foreign Ministry said that the unanimous adoption of the resolution showed international consensus on the issue.
At the meeting in Nur-Sultan, Lavrentyev called on the international community to shift the focus from issues of military stabilization of the situation in Syria to those of humanitarian nature. He repeatedly emphasized that the focus was not on supplies of humanitarian aid but on the implementation of specific projects for the reconstruction of the country and its infrastructure.
New format
It is possible that during the talks Pedersen will touch upon the topic of possible creation of a new international dialogue on Syria, which, in his opinion, should discuss the foreign presence in the country.
Lavrov commented on that initiative earlier, saying that he did not know what basis Pedersen planned to try out the new format, adding that the Astana format was committed to UNSC Res. 2254, according to which Syrians should determine the fate of their country themselves.
According to official representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry Maria Zakharova, the idea of creating a new international format for the Syrian settlement with participation of Russia, the US, Iran, Turkey, the European Union and the Arab world is unlikely to improve the effectiveness of the search for a solution, because it does not clarify the role of the Syrians themselves in this process.
Fighting terrorism
The topic of combating terrorism in the Arab republic will not go unnoticed. At the end of June, Pedersen said there were signs of the strengthening of the terrorist group Islamic State (IS, banned in Russia) in Syria. However, Lavrov noted a week later that the threat from IS has not increased in the republic and it has been possible to prevent the caliphate's plans there.
Lavrentyev noted at the Syrian meeting that the fight against terrorism in the country remains a major issue, although Moscow noted a gradual stabilization of the situation in the republic. In a joint statement, the guarantor countries also agreed to continue engagement on the issue and condemned the increase in terrorist activity in various parts of Syria.
Lavrov and Pedersen are also likely to discuss preparations for future talks on Syria in the Astana format. Following the meeting in Nur-Sultan, the negotiators decided to hold another round of consultations before the end of this year in Kazakhstan's capital, taking into account the epidemic situation.
GSV "Russia - Islamic World"
Photo: Russian Foreign Ministry
Based on materials from TASS