Political Transition, Constitution Key Topics of Upcoming Syria Peace Talks

The Syrian peace talks in Geneva due to begin on April 13 will cover the topics of political transition, governance, and the constitution, UN Special Envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura said Monday.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) – On Sunday, UN Special Envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura arrived in Damascus for a working visit.

"The Geneva talks’ next phase [is] crucially important, are crucially important, because we will be focusing in particular on political transition, on governance, and constitutional principles. We hope and plan to make them constructive and we plan to make them concrete," de Mistura told journalists after a meeting with Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Muallem in Geneva.

The previous round of Syrian talks in Geneva finished on March 24. The round saw all delegations submit their settlement proposals to Syrian Envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura, who then produced a final paper with points of convergence between the parties.

The peace talks followed a Russian-US-brokered ceasefire deal reached on February 27. On March 14, Putin ordered Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu to start withdrawing most of Russia's military contingent from Syria, which had been conducting strikes against terrorist targets since late September.