De Mistura: Process on Legal, Constitutional Aspects in Syria ‘Up and Running’

UN Special Envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura stated that the technical process is not meant to replace the formal negotiations, adding it does not "in any way take away the Syrian people’s right to draft and determine their constitutional future."

UNITED NATIONS (Sputnik) — The technical consultative process aimed at in-depth study of legal and constitutional aspects in Syria is ongoing and showing potential, UN Special Envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura told the UN Security Council on Monday.

"Participants wasted no time and agreed to two separate technical meetings with experts from my own team on May 18," de Mistura said. "The meetings were business-like, constructive and informative. We can now say that the process is up and running and it has already shown its real potential."

Two more expert meetings in the framework of the consultative process took place on May 19 with the Moscow and Cairo platforms, separately.

De Mistura emphasized that the technical process is not meant to replace the formal negotiations, adding it does not "in any way take away the Syrian people’s right to draft and determine their constitutional future."

Moreover, the special envoy strongly encouraged the experts to meet in-between rounds of Geneva talks on Syria, and noted that experts will not take any decisions themselves, but will advise the stakeholders in the negotiation process.

The decision to hold technical consultation is one of the outcomes of the sixth round of intra-Syrian talks that took place in Geneva last week.