GENEVA, April 26. /TASS/. United Nations Secretary General’s Special Envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura plans to convene another round of intra-Syrian talks in May, Ilian Masaad, Secretary General of the National Conference Party and the leader of the so-called Khmeimim group of the Syrian opposition, said on Tuesday.
De Mistura, in his words, gave to understand he is not abandoning the idea of continuation of the talks even after the Syrian opposition High Negotiations Committee (HNC) took a decision to suspend its participation in them.
He said the United Nations envoy plans to hold another round of talks in May. De Mistura, according to Masaad, continues his efforts to agree the date of the next round.
Masaad said that the group’s meeting with de Mistura focused on the 12 principles of political settlement the United Nations envoy had initiated previously. "We agreed with the bulk of provisions but for the ninth, which concerns security but turned down nothing," he said, adding that other topics at the meeting were a reform of the armed forces, reunification and security in Syria. Apart from that, he said, the Khmeimim group delegation raised the issue of its initiative of convening a Syrian national congress that was advanced at the previous round.
Earlier, a source close to the talks told TASS the next round of intra-Syrian talks is expected on May 10-15.