Secretary-General of the Syrian Coalition Nazir Hakim said that the Coalition is carrying on with its plan for the year 2017 to develop projects that would lay the foundation for the transitional period and that which will follow a just political solution in which Assad and his clique must have no role to play.
Hakim was speaking at a meeting with Kate Johnston, Head of the Syria CSSF Program, Tara Soomoro, Head of DFID Conflict and Stability Programs, and Mohammad Shamaa, Governance Advisor in the UK Department for International Development at the Coalition headquarters in Istanbul on Tuesday.
Hakim briefed his guests about the Coalition’s policy and presidential plan for the current phase and the mechanisms for implementing the plan aimed at achieving the goals that the Coalition had set for itself, including reforming the Coalition structure as well as the establishment of institutions and directorates.
The Coalition worked on important areas and issues, including education, health, and the internally displaced persons in cooperation with the Syrian Interim Government (SIG) and local councils, Hakim said. He pointed that these efforts are aimed at laying the groundwork for the transitional period.
Hakim pointed out that these projects are designed to support the opposition’s High Negotiations Committee (HNC) during the Geneva negotiations through the negotiating delegation as well as the technical and logistical delegations.
Hakim elucidated the role of the Coalition, SIG, and the local councils in the current projects and the mechanism of allocating and coordinating tasks according to competence under the supervision of the Coalition.
Johnston gave an overview of the projects they are working on as well as the areas and the parties they are working with. She praised the efforts being made by the Coalition and the policies it has developed in cooperation with the Syrian Interim Government. The two sides agreed to hold a complementary meeting next month to “establish a mechanism for maintaining communication and the implementation of some joint projects in order to establish a single mechanism of action with local councils, directorates, the Syrian Interim Government, and civil society organizations. (Source: Syrian Coalition’s Media Department)