Geneva peace talks on Syria

UN Special Envoy for Syria Geir Pedersen said on Nov. 1 the first round of talks by the Syrian Constitutional Committee was "successful" and the next round, with a whittled down group of 45, will start on Nov. 5.

Talks started in Geneva on Oct. 29 to activate a Syrian constitutional committee that will work on a new charter for the first time after two years of hard work to establish the group.

The special envoy to Syria has suggested ending the Astana talks on the future of the country, promoting the U.N.-led Geneva talks.

Outgoing UN envoy Staffan de Mistura met with Syria's top diplomat in Damascus on Wednesday, the UN and state media said, to try to make progress on a post-war constitution.

 Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and U.N. Syria envoy Staffan de Mistura will hold talks in Moscow on Thursday about the latest situation in Syria, the RIA news agency reported on Wednesday, citing an unnamed diplomatic source.

Turkey has urged the U.N. Special Representative for Syria Staffan de Mistura not to invite any representative from the Democratic Union Party (PYD) to the committee that will be formed to establish a new constitution for Syria.

A proposal to form a constitutional committee was agreed on Tuesday at the Syrian National Dialogue Congress in the Russian city of Sochi, organized by Ankara, Tehran, and Moscow, Anadolu Agency reports.

Parties at the two-day congress said in a final statement they wanted to bring an end to the ongoing conflict in the region as soon as possible.

The UN envoy for Syria acknowledged on Dec. 14 that the latest round of peace talks for the war-ravaged country had failed, and blamed Damascus for the “golden opportunity missed.”

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's negotiating team is set to arrive in Geneva on Sunday to participate in peace talks, Syria's state news agency SANA reported on Thursday, quoting a foreign ministry source, reported Reuters.

The divided Syrian opposition announced in the first hours of Friday that it was agreed to send a joint delegation to Geneva. peace talks under the auspices of the UN are next week, the France press reports.