"The date in which, in my opinion, we will be in a position to send invitations: tomorrow. And the date which we'll be aiming at having the beginning of the intra-Syrian talks: January 29," de Mistura told reporters.
The agenda will include a discussion of new governance, constitution and elections, he added, underscoring, however, that the main priority for the talks would be establishing ceasefire and finding ways to stop the Islamic State threat.
"We are going to aim at proximity talks starting on [January] 29 and ongoing for six months… That will be the way we try to make it different from the past, this is not Geneva-3, this is leading to what we hope will be a Geneva success story," he added.
The official explained that the first part of the talks were expected to last two or three weeks, with "lot of walks out and walks in."
The invitations for the talks will be sent out on January 26, de Mistura added.
Staffan de Mistura stated that the upcoming intra-Syrian talks may continue for six months.
"We are going to aim at proximity talks starting on [January] 29 and ongoing for six months," de Mistura said.
"That will be the way we try to make it different from the past, this is not Geneva-3, this is leading to what we hope will be a Geneva success story," he added.
In December, the UN Security Council adopted a resolution on Syrian settlement, which reaffirmed the goals of the Vienna agreements to bring the entire spectrum of the political groups in the crisis-torn country to the negotiating table and stated that the next round of the talks would take place in January, 2016.
January 25 was initially set as the target day for the first round of intra-Syrian talks, with Wednesday later offered as a possible date of the first sit-down.
