GENEVA, December 1. /TASS/. The intra-Syrian talks in Geneva will possibly continue until December 15, UN Secretary General’s Special Envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura told reporters on Thursday.
"This round of talks is Geneva is number eight, and we are planning to have it lasting up to the 15th of December. As you remember, the intention was to actually have them for only two or three days, and then <…> the government delegation in particular would have gone to Sochi, and then it would be required for them to return afterwards," the UN mediator said.
"But, Sochi has been postponed as you heard to some time in January or February. The date has not been fixed. And therefore we have felt that this is the occasion to actually <…> prolong the opportunity," he continued.
According to de Mistura, the delegations will possibly travel home for the weekend, and the talks will resume next week, approximately on December 5.
The eighth round of intra-Syrian talks in Geneva began on November 28, with the participation of delegations from the Syrian government and the opposition. The talks focus on an informal document, headlined 12 intra-Syrian essential principles, which was drafted in spring 2016 and edited this March.
The negotiations also include debates on the four key issues of the Geneva agenda - the constitutional process, UN-supervised elections, issues of government and anti-terrorism efforts.
The previous, seventh round of Syrian reconciliation talks was held in Geneva in July. It involved delegations of the Syrian government and three opposition groups - the Cairo group, the Moscow group and the Riyadh group. The next round was initially scheduled to be held in September, but was postponed until October and later to November.