GENEVA (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 23rd June, 2023) Switzerland has not been notified about reported plans to move the Syrian constitutional talks from Geneva, foreign ministry spokesman Pierre-Alain Eltschinger told RIA Novosti on Thursday.
A deputy of Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Wednesday that the top Russian diplomat discussed with UN envoy for Syria Geir Pedersen options for having another country host the talks between Syrian rivals. Russian envoy for Syria Alexander Lavrentyev said Syrian stakeholders wanted to hold their next meeting on a new Syrian constitution elsewhere.
Eltschinger said the alpine nation regretted that the committee, which groups Syrian government officials with representatives of the opposition, had not met for more than a year but denied having any knowledge of the plans to change the location.
"We have not been notified about any decision to change the location or received a confirmation from Special Envoy Pedersen," the spokesman said, adding Pedersen had been content with Switzerland's contribution to the Syrian peace process.
He insisted that the conflict in Syria could only be resolved politically in line with UN Security Resolution 2254, which endorsed a road map for a peace process in Syria through UN-facilitated talks between the government and opposition and a Syrian-led, Syrian-owned political transition.
