UN chief hails U.S. announcement to hold new round of Syria talks in New York

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Tuesday hailed the U.S. announcement that the third round of Syria peace talks will be held in New York on Dec. 18, and he underscored the necessity of having a nationwide ceasefire in Syria as soon as possible.

The secretary-general met earlier Tuesday in Paris with U.S. States Secretary of State John Kerry on the sidelines of the UN conference on climate change, said Farhan Haq, the deputy UN spokesman, at a daily news briefing here.

"The secretary-general welcomed Mr. Kerry's initiative to hold the third meeting of the International Syria Support Group in New York on 18 December," Haq said. "If the talks are held then, he said that he and his special envoy, Staffan de Mistura, intend to participate."

"The secretary-general also underscored the necessity of having a nationwide ceasefire in Syria as soon as possible," Haq said. "He added his hope that the talks in New York will provide a firm and solid basis so that the ceasefire and political process can begin."

Kerry said Saturday that the next round of talks on Syria's political future would be held this month in New York. He made the remark at the Saban Forum, a conference on Middle East policy, at the Brookings Institution think tank in Washington.

However, Samantha Power, the U.S. permanent representative to the United Nations, told reporters here Tuesday that she cannot confirm the venue and time of the proposed Syria talks in New York, voicing her hope that details of the meeting will be finalised soon.

Diplomats have held two rounds of meetings in Vienna to agree on a roadmap to end the nearly five-year war in Syria that has left 250,000 dead and triggered a refugee crisis in Middle East and Europe.

At the previous round of Syria talks in Vienna last month, representatives of world and regional powers, including the United States, Russia, China, Iran, Saudi Arabia and the United Nations, laid out a broad plan for a political transition in Syria, as well as a process aimed at leading to an agreement on which elements of the Syrian opposition are terrorists.

The plan called for bringing Syrian government and opposition groups into U.N.-mediated talks by Jan. 1. The world powers also voiced support for establishing a credible, inclusive government in Syria within six months and free and fair elections within 18 months.

Speaking of the climate change talks underway in Paris, the secretary-general said that the political momentum has been growing day by day, Haq said. "With three and a half days to go, the secretary-general hopes that the parties will accelerate the speed of their negotiations, so that by Friday evening, we will have a universal and robust climate change agreement."

The Paris conference, which opened on Nov. 30, is expected to conclude on Dec. 11 with an aim to reach a universal agreement on the global efforts to tackle climate change.

Meanwhile, addressing business leaders at a Global Compact business forum, Ban said that the collective momentum among the private sector for climate action is growing daily.

Across the world, Ban said, businesses and investors are standing up for a strong agreement in Paris that sends out the right signals. "They are asking for a clear message that the transition to cleaner, low emissions energy sources is necessary, inevitable, irreversible and beneficial," Haq said.

Ban also held bilateral meetings with some of the delegations attending the Conference of the Parties, in his effort to ensure that momentum will be maintained, Haq said.

Also on Tuesday, Ban has arrived in Finland, where he will meet with Finnish officials on Wednesday, Haq added. Enditem