De Mistura: Next round of Geneva talks depends on progress made in setting up de-escalation zones

Finstadjordet, Norway, SANA – The UN special envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura said on Wednesday the next round of Geneva talks on the crisis in Syria may be convened in July, depending on the progress made in setting up “de-escalation” zones in Syria.

“There is an aim of having an Astana meeting sometime early July, just before the G20 meeting in Hamburg,” de Mistura told reporters on the sidelines of a peace mediation conference in Norway.

He added that the talks will be set in July, once we would have helped and made sure the de-escalation has really worked.

Regarding whether an agreement had been reached about those zones and who would observe them, the UN envoy indicated that “It is a complicated process. While we are talking, there are meetings that are taking place just on those issues.”

A key to progress, de Mistura said, could be the planned meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and U.S President Donald Trump on the sidelines of the G20 summit.

R.Raslan/Mazen

 

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