De Mistura to Create Technical Group on Four Syrian 'Baskets' - Cairo Opposition

UN Special Envoy for Syria will form a technical group on the intra-Syrian talks in Geneva platform, Cairo opposition delegation leader Firas Khalidi told Sputnik Thursday.

GENEVA (Sputnik) — UN Special Envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura aims to form a technical group for discussing all four baskets of issues on the agenda of the ongoing intra-Syrian talks in Geneva, Cairo opposition delegation leader Firas Khalidi told Sputnik Thursday.

"UN Special Envoy will discuss today the technical aspect of all four baskets. The main aim is to form a technical group for discussing all four baskets," Khalidi said.

Four baskets are anti-terrorism, constitution, elections and governance.

On Tuesday, UN Special Envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura gave to the delegations a proposal paper suggesting to establish a special Consultative Mechanism on constitution and legal matters.

In the paper obtained by Sputnik on Tuesday, de Mistura suggested creating a mechanism, chaired by his office and involving legal experts from both sides and the UN, that could start working immediately and seek to find ways to draft a new constitution for Syria.

All sides to the talks had their reservations concerning the paper. However, the mechanism can start its work as early as later on Thursday, a source close to the negotiations told Sputnik earlier in the day. It might consider all four baskets instead of focusing solely on constitution.

The sixth round of intra-Syrian talks kicked off in Geneva on Tuesday. The UN-backed negotiations brought together representatives of the Syrian government, as well as different opposition groups.