Head of the Syrian Negotiations Commission, Nasr al-Hariri, said that Syria now has a good opportunity to reach a political solution as ceasefires have brought calm to many areas of the country.
“I think now that we have an opportunity, because nearly in Syria we have a ceasefire now, in the northeast of Syria and the north of Syria, and the efforts of fighting terrorism has achieved good results,” Hariri told Reuters in an interview on Saturday.
“Now it is time to invest all of these developments: the ceasefire, fighting terrorism, the belief of the majority of the Syrian people that the only solution to the Syrian crisis is the political solution,” Hariri added.
The Syrian Negotiations Commission met with the newly appointed United Nations Special Envoy to Syria Geir Pedersen on Friday and discussed with him efforts to make progress on the political track and follow-up on the ideas for the political process.
In a statement, the Commission reaffirmed it stood ready to deal positively with the new UN envoy as it previously did with the former envoys, stressing that it did want “more time to be wasted.”
The Commission also reasserted the UN-led political process in accordance with the Geneva Communique of 2012 and international resolutions on Syria, most importantly UN Security Council resolution 2254 which is the agreed action plan for a political solution.
Furthermore, the Commission pointed to the need to follow up the work on the formation of the Constitutional Committee and the rules of procedure for its political and organizational work as an important track of the political process. It also stressed the need to pave the way for the completion of the other tracks, especially the first track related to the creation of a safe, neutral environment for the holding of a referendum on the draft constitution as a prelude to political transition. (Source: Syrian Coalition’s Media Department)