President Jarba Meets Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov

In a meeting with Russian minister of foreign affairs Sergei Lavrov, President of the Syrian Coalition, Ahmad al-Jarba made it clear the Coalition will take part in the second round of negotiations in Geneva aimed at implementing the Geneva I Communiqué. Mr. Jarba stressed that the Coalition’s participation in the negotiations is based on the sincere will to move forward to reach a political settlement to the crisis in Syria. He made reference to the Assad regime’s continued refusal to implement the Geneva I Communiqué. Lavrov said: “We regard the fact that the National Coalition delegation arrived in Montreux to attend the launch of an international peace conference on Syria and the first round of the negotiations as their choice for a peace settlement of the armed conflict.” He said the choice the Coalition took was not an easy one since “there are still those who bet on the military solution.” Lavrov described the Coalition’s choice to participate in Geneva “an important step”. “We support your choice as it makes it possible to launch the Syrian-led negotiations,” Lavrov remarked.