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Meeting of Syrian constitutional committee scheduled for early 2019

The Astana format ministers reaffirmed their determination to facilitate the beginning of the Constitutional Committee’s work

GENEVA, December 18./TASS/. Russia, Iran and Turkey plan to convene the first meeting of the Syrian Constitutional Committee in Geneva early in 2019, says a statement by the foreign ministers of the ‘Astana trio’ (Russia, Iran and Turkey) read out by Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov after the talks in Geneva.

The ministers "agreed to take efforts aimed at convening the first session of the Constitutional Committee in Geneva early next year," Lavrov said.

The ministers "presented the positive results of their consultations with the Syrian parties on the composition of the Constitutional Committee," the top diplomat read out the joint statement.

The ministers "reaffirmed their determination to facilitate the beginning of the Constitutional Committee’s work, inter alia by elaborating its general guiding principles through interaction with the Syrian parties and the UN Secretary-General’s Special Envoy on Syria, on the basis of which the rules of procedure that will ensure its efficient and sustainable work will be determined," the document said.

"The work of the Constitutional Committee should be governed by a sense of compromise and constructive engagement aimed at reaching general agreement of its members which would enable the outcome to receive the widest possible support by the Syrian people," the statement said.

The ministers "expressed their conviction that these steps will lead to the launch of a viable and lasting Syrian-led, Syrian-owned and UN-facilitated political process in line with the decisions of the Syrian National Dialogue Congress in Sochi and the UN Security Council resolution 2254," the statement said.

The document, however, did not say that the list of the Constitutional Committee participants had been coordinated.

The decision to set up the Constitutional Committee was made at the Syrian National Dialogue Congress in Sochi on January 30, 2018. It is expected to include delegates from the Syrian government, the opposition and the civic society. UN Secretary-General’s Special Envoy on Syria Staffan de Mistura spoke in favor of having no more than 50 people in the committee.

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