Cairo Platform: UN Envoy Proposing to Hold Intra-Syrian Talks Round in Mid-June

UN Special Envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura is aiming to hold the next round of the Intra-Syrian talks in Geneva in mid-June, head of the delegation of Cairo opposition platform Firas Khalidi told Sputnik.

"De Mistura proposed to hold the next round of talks in mid-June. We welcomed this proposal," Khalidi said.

The sixth round of intra-Syrian talks began in Geneva on Tuesday and finished on Friday.

"This round has been a blow of life in the political process. The aim was to reach progress at least on one of the baskets [anti-terrorism, governance, constitution, elections], and de Mistura succeeded in it — on constitution. We are grateful to him for that," Khalidi said, summarizing the results of the latest round of talks.

The main result of Geneva-6 on Syria has been the start of expert meetings between the United Nations and the Syrian sides to discuss constitutional and legal matters.

Expert consultations between the United Nations and the Syrian sides on constitutional matters, which started work during the latest round of Intra-Syrian talks in Geneva, have three options on the table — change of the current constitution, its suspension or adoption of a new document, according to Khalidi.

Start of such expert consultations between the United Nations and the Syrian government and opposition (separately) has been the main achievement of Geneva-6 on Syria. UN Special Envoy Staffan de Mistura, however, emphasized on Friday they do not review the essence of the future constitution, but rather think of the methods of drafting it.

"There are three proposals on the table: changing the current constitution, adopting a new one, or declaring general constitutional principles with suspending the current one," Khalidi said.