Off the wire
• Zambia urges businesses to respond to currency appreciation  • EU ministers agree to promote consumption of milk, fruits, vegetables in schools  • 1,600-yr-old kilns said to show Israel was world center of glass manufacturing  • First day of Sudan's Darfur referendum going on smoothly: commission  • Premier urges local governments to propel reform  • China to play a big role in world soccer, says Pellegrini  • UN, AU holds workshop to improve humanitarian operations in Somalia  • 1st LD: 12 killed in Afghan suicide bombing  • 25 houses damaged in Indonesia's 5.9-magnitude earthquake  • Greek PM, Portuguese leader sign joint declaration for solidarity in refugee crisis, end to austerity  
You are here: 　 Home

Damascus renews readiness to attend new round of peace talks

Xinhua, April 11, 2016 Adjust font size:

Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Moallem renewed on Monday his government's readiness to attend the upcoming round of Geneva peace talks on Syria, according to state news agency SANA.

The Syrian government is committed to embarking on peace talks without preconditions, al-Moallem stressed during his meeting with the visiting United Nations envoy to Syria, Staffan De Mistura, who arrived in the country a day earlier for talks with top officials about the new round of talks.

Al-Moallem said the government delegation will attend the Geneva talks as of April 15, after the end of the parliamentarian elections in Syria.

Meanwhile, he stressed on the Syrians' right to determine their future without foreign interference.

Before leaving Damascus, de Mistura said that the purpose of his visit was to discuss the preparations of the Geneva talks, "which we are planning to start on April 13 upon my return from this regional trip."

"The Geneva talks are crucially important because we will be focusing in particular on the political transition, and on constitutional principles," he said, adding that "we hope and plan to make them constructive and concrete."

De Mistura said that he also raised the issues with al-Moallem of humanitarian access and increased humanitarian accesses to all besieged areas and all Syrians.

"We did raised the importance of protecting, maintaining and supporting the cessation of hostilities which is, as you know, fragile, and we need to make sure that it continues to be sustained," he said. Endit