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2nd LD Writethru: Member states "very closely coordinating" to launch Syria talks in New York: UN chief

Xinhua, December 4, 2015 Adjust font size:

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said here Thursday that "member states are very closely coordinating" to open a new round of Syria international talks in New York, and "I am looking forward to that."

Farhan Haq, the deputy UN spokesman, told Xinhua that "that is his expectation. It is not an official announcement. You have to ask the United States. We cannot officially confirm it, just yet."

The UN chief made the statement in a response to a press question here as he was briefing reporters on the Paris conference on climate change. He was heading back to the conference, currently underway in the French capital, on Thursday evening.

"Member-states are very closely coordinating to have the third Vienna process meeting here in New York," the secretary-general told reporters. "I'm looking forward to that."

U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Samantha Power once said "it's one possibility" that the meeting will be held in New York.

Parties met in the previous two rounds of meetings, held in Vienna in late October and mid-November, to seek a roadmap to end the nearly five-year war in Syria that has killed 250,000 and triggered a refugee crisis in Middle East and Europe. The next round is tentatively scheduled for Dec. 18.

"For the first time, the countries who have not been sitting together are now sitting together face to face to discuss this matter," Ban said, referring to Saudi Arabia and Iran and some other organizations joining in the Vienna process.

"Twenty or 23 countries and international organizations have agreed firmly that we need to address this issue from the root," he said. "Now, I expect that with all this hard work and negotiations by the parties concerned, there should be a nationwide ceasefire, preferably as early as January. Then there is again a roadmap for having elections."

The secretary-general also said he was "encouraged that some countries like Saudi Arabia are trying to convene the Syrian armed groups" while his special Syrian envoy Staffan de Mistura "is working very hard to have intra-Syrian dialogue."

"This is a good beginning, and we must have very practical and realistic progress in this so that we can resolve all these issues," he said, adding that "the continuing tragedy and brutalities of the Syrian crisis have provided a perfect breeding ground for extremists and terrorists to take root," giving rise to "a lot of different crises in different dimensions." Endit