The United Nations envoy mediating a resolution to the crisis in Syria today said that the next round of the intra-Syrian talks must be well prepared to ensure the possibility of moving forward with the decisive outcome of a political transition in August.
“Bottom line, I’m still aiming – we are aiming at – within July, but not at any cost and not without guarantees,” Staffan de Mistura, the UN Special Envoy for Syria, told the press at the conclusion of closed consultations with the Security Council in New York.
Mr. de Mistura continued that he was “aiming at August as the period where we should be seeing something concrete. So that in September we take stock.”
He noted that there was “a lot of discrete diplomacy taking place” given his recent visit to St. Petersburg, Russia, and tomorrow’s visit to Washington, D.C.
“Everyone agrees that political transition is a priority and no one is denying it,” he stressed, adding “so let’s talk about it in August.”
The Special Envoy acknowledged that the first two rounds of the talks had produced some “astonishing outcomes,” including commonalities between the parties, “but this time, the third one needs to be particularly well prepared.”
“In other words, we learned that when you convene a conference or talks or intra-Syrian talks, you want to make sure that it has good chances of success. Having just a conference for the sake of a conference, we can do that any time but that’s not the purpose,” he added, noting that one of the UN strengths was its “convening power.”
