Lavrov: We expect that the next round of the Syrian Constitutional Committee will be new and qualitative

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov expected that the next round of the work of the Syrian Constitutional Committee will be “new and specific”, compared to its previous rounds.

Lavrov added, during his participation in the “Valdai” International Forum for Dialogue in Moscow, that it was the first time that it was agreed that the heads of the two delegations of the Assad regime and the opposition would hold a direct meeting between them.

Lavrov made it clear that the UN envoy to Syria, Geir Pedersen, welcomed this agreement.
Lavrov confirmed Russia’s efforts to try to hold the sixth round of the Constitutional Committee before the holy month of Ramadan.

Earlier, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said that Ankara is working to hold the sixth round of meetings of the Syrian Constitutional Committee in Geneva this month.

On March 15, the United Nations special envoy to Syria said, “The Constitutional Committee is incapable of solving the conflict in Syria alone.”
Pedersen said at the conclusion of the fifth round of the Constitutional Committee meetings, that it “cannot continue in this way,” describing the round as “disappointing,” and it did not achieve the things that he believed would be accomplished before its start, “because there is no clear understanding about how to progress in the work.

The Constitutional Committee consists of three delegations (the opposition, the Assad regime, and civil society), with the aim of drafting a new constitution for Syria in accordance with UN Resolution 2254, which provides for the formation of a transitional governing body and the organization of new elections.