Rome-based Christian Community of Sant'Egidio is gathering a group of Syrian opposition members and experts that would be engaged in Syria's constitutional reform, a member of this initiative told Sputnik on Wednesday, adding that the idea was discussed with the Russian Special Presidential Envoy for Syria Alexander Lavrentyev and Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Vershinin in Geneva.
GENEVA (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 12th September, 2018) Rome-based Christian Community of Sant'Egidio is gathering a group of Syrian opposition members and experts that would be engaged in Syria's constitutional reform, a member of this initiative told Sputnik on Wednesday, adding that the idea was discussed with the Russian Special Presidential Envoy for Syria Alexander Lavrentyev and Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Vershinin in Geneva.
Mario Giro, a mediator for peace in Sant'Egidio, is engaged in gathering the group. Randa Kassis, head of the Astana platform of Syrian opposition, is a member of this group. Both were present at the UN-guarantors talks in Geneva earlier this week.
"This is an initiative of Sant'Egidio. We met with Mr. Lavrentyev and Vershinin on Monday in Geneva and discussed it ... "It was a really good meeting," Kassis said.
The Christian Community of Sant'Egidio was established in 1968 and has members in over 70 countries. It undertook a number of peace initiatives and received numerous awards for its activities, including a recognition from UNESCO and a nomination by the Italian parliament for a Nobel Peace prize.
On Monday and Tuesday, UN Special Envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura met with representatives of Russia, Turkey and Iran to discuss the progress in constitutional commission creation. They approved two-thirds of the commission's composition and decided to create a working group to discuss the remaining part.
Russia was represented by Lavrentyev and Vershinin, Turkey by Deputy Foreign Minister Sedat Onal, and Iran by Deputy Foreign Minister Jaberi Ansari.
