UN envoy for Syria to visit Damascus February 21, Russian diplomat says

SOCHI (TASS): UN Special Envoy for Syria Geir Pedersen plans to travel to Damascus on February 21 to hold consultations on the work of the Constitutional Committee, Russian Special Presidential Envoy for Syria Alexander Lavrentiev said in an interview with TASS.

“Mr. Pedersen will fly to Damascus on Sunday, where he will hold intense consultations,” he said.

According to Lavrentiev, there is no clarity yet on the date for next meeting of the Syrian Constitutional Committee’s editorial commission. “Pedersen said that he needed time to understand to what extent Damascus is ready for extensive work on writing the constitution, for work on specific articles, on the text. If he sees that Damascus is ready, if he can agree on a further action mechanism, he will naturally announce that it will be held in the immediate future,” he noted.

He expressed the hope that there would be clarity on the issue after the UN envoy’s visit to the Syrian capital. “We will look at the results [of the visit]. If he announces that there will be a regular session of the Constitutional Committee on such and such a date, that will mean that the results were positive. Therefore, let’s hope so,” Lavrentiev said.