Egyptian, U.S. foreign ministers discuss Syrian crisis via phone call

CAIRO, Jan. 24 (Xinhua) -- Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry and his U.S. counterpart Rex Tillerson urged on Wednesday for more efforts to reach a political solution to the Syrian crisis that is accepted by all Syrian parties.

In a statement, spokesman for the Egyptian Foreign Ministry Ahmed Abu-Zeid said that Shoukry received a phone call from Tillerson during which the Egyptian minister stressed the importance of backing the Syrian people's aspirations and maintaining Syria's national unity.

Shoukry reiterated Cairo's support for all efforts exerted to defuse the Syrian crisis, particularly through UN-brokered talks in Vienna slated for Jan. 25-26, Abu Zeid said.

The Vienna meetings, which will be attended by the Syrian government as well as Syrian opposition groups, will focus on the constitutional basket of the agenda towards the full implementation of the Security Council Resolution 2254, an internationally-backed text that basically seeks a new constitution and UN-supervised elections in Syria.

The Vienna talks will precede Russian-backed talks in Sochi on Jan. 29-30.

The Sochi talks will also tackle the constitution topic, a coincidence that pushed observers to believe that the Vienna talks were designed to affect the Sochi talks.

Meanwhile, Abu Zeid said that the foreign minister has also discussed with his U.S. counterpart the ongoing Turkish military operations in northern Syria and has asserted the necessity to respect the Syrian sovereignty and protect the lives of the Syrian people, he said.

Both ministers have also asserted the importance of providing all support for the strategic relations between Cairo and Washington to serve joint interests, the spokesman said. Enditem