UN Envoy for Syria:

Constitutional Committee to Start Meeting Late Oct.

Date: 16 October 2019 - 22:10

News ID: ۷۱۷۷۰

DAMASCUS (Dispatches) – UN Special Envoy for Syria Geir Pedersen said on Wednesday that the recently-formed Syria's constitutional committee will hold its first meeting by the end of this month.
The meeting will be held despite the situation in northeastern Syria where Turkey launched an offensive against the Kurdish forces, he said in the capital Damascus after a meeting with Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Moallem.
Pedersen said the UN is alarmed by the situation in northeastern Syria where Turkey is on an offensive in that region.
However, he said that the current situation will not hinder the work of the constitutional committee that was established last month.
"We must move forward and we will have the first meeting of the constitutional committee by the end of this month," he said.
The envoy said he has had good discussions with the Syrian government and the opposition on the work of the constitutional committee, which, he said, will be a door opener for a broader political solution to Syria's prolonged crisis.
"I am optimistic that we will have a good launch of the constitutional committee," he said.
Pedersen arrived in Damascus on Tuesday evening.
During his visit to Damascus last month, the UN announced that a Syrian constitutional committee made up of opposition, civil society and government members have been finalized after almost two years of negotiations.
The 150-member committee, proposed during a conference hosted by Russia in January 2018, will rewrite the Syrian constitution.