Talks to draft Syria’s constitution to resume on October 18

The UN envoy for Syria says the work on the new constitution of the war-ravaged nation is expected to begin ‘seriously’.

Talks on drafting a constitution for Syria will reconvene next month in Geneva, the UN special envoy for the war-ravaged nation told the Security Council on Tuesday.

“It has now been exactly two years” since the committee was created to draft the new constitution as agreed by the government in Damascus and the Syrian Negotiations Commission, but “regrettably, the committee has not yet begun to make steady progress on its mandate,” Geir Pedersen said.

“I am pleased to announce that agreement is in place on methodology,” he said, adding that the drafting committee will convene in Geneva as of October 18. Pederson toured the region and spent 18 months negotiating with the parties involved.