MOSCOW, December 23. /TASS/. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov will hold talks with his Syrian counterpart Walid Muallem in Moscow on Monday. The parties will discuss ways to resolve the situation in Syria, including the activities of the Constitutional Committee, and economic cooperation between Moscow and Damascus. While in Moscow, the Syrian top diplomat will also participate in a meeting of the Russia-Syria intergovernmental commission on trade, economic, scientific and technical cooperation.
"The parties are expected to exchange views on a wide range of pressing global and regional issues, focusing on the situation in Syria, including the activities of the Constitutional Committee in Geneva, as well as the country’s post-war reconstruction and efforts to facilitate the return of refugees," Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said, commenting on the upcoming meeting between Lavrov and Muallem.
Syrian Ambassador to Moscow Riad Haddad also said that the two top diplomats would pay special attention to trade and economic cooperation. Russian Deputy Prime Minister Yuri Borisov visited Syria last week, discussing ways to establish control over the country’s oil fields and reconstruct transport infrastructure facilities with President Bashar al-Assad.
The two countries also continue defense cooperation: the first Russian-Syrian naval exercise concluded in the Mediterranean Sea on December 19.
Efforts to resolve crisis
Lavrov and Muallem will particularly discuss political efforts to resolve the Syrian crisis, including the consultations of the Syrian Constitutional Committee in Geneva and the Astana process on Syria in the Kazakh capital of Nur-Sultan. The Constitutional Committee has been facing difficulties, as its members failed to agree on an agenda at their second meeting on November 25-29. In addition, no date has been set for the Committee’s next meeting, which was initially expected to be held on December 16. A round of international talks on Syria took place in Nur-Sultan on December 10-11, involving the guarantors of the Astana process (Russia, Iran and Turkey), but failed to achieve any breakthrough.
Situation on the ground
The Russian and Syrian foreign ministers will also exchange views on the situation on the ground. Last week, tensions escalated in the Syrian province of Idlib. On Friday, government forces thwarted two militant attacks, killing over 200 terrorists. The Al-Watan newspaper reported on Sunday that Syrian troops had liberated a number of settlements in the southeast of Idlib and were heading to a stronghold of the Jabhat al-Nusra terror group (outlawed in Russia) in Jarjanaz.