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UN envoy for Syria arrives in Damascus

Geir Pedersen has arrived in Damascus to hold a meeting with Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Muallem
UN Secretary-General's Syria envoy Geir Pedersen
 Alexander Shcherbak/TASS
UN Secretary-General's Syria envoy Geir Pedersen
© Alexander Shcherbak/TASS

MOSCOW, September 23. /TASS/. United Nations Special Envoy for Syria Geir Pedersen has arrived in Damascus to hold a meeting with Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Muallem, as he himself wrote on Twitter.

"Pleasure being back in Damascus. I had productive meetings with Foreign Minister al-Muallem during my last visit. Since then, I believe I've made some progress on the total package on the Constitutional Committee. I'm looking forward to my meeting with the foreign minister Monday," the tweet reads.

Pedersen and Muallem last met in Damascus in July to discuss the makeup of the Syrian Constitutional Committee.

On September 18, UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres said the Committee would soon begin its work. On September 9, Russian Special Presidential Envoy for the Middle East and Africa Mikhail Bogdanov said the committee would be established by the end of September.

 

Syrian constitutional committee

 

On January 30, 2018, participants in the Syrian National Dialogue Congress, held in the Russian Black Sea resort of Sochi, decided to establish a constitutional committee that would work on the country’s new constitution.

The 150-member committee is supposed to include representatives of the Syrian government and opposition, as well as civil society members. Each of the three groups will hold one-third of seats in the committee and will also appoint experts to hold closed door consultations in Geneva.