UN envoy seeks new path forward on Syria in Damascus visit
Envoy Geir Pedersen said there is "another possibility to start to explore possible avenues" to resolve Syria's conflict politically.
UN Special Envoy for Syria Geir Pedersen met with Syrian government officials in Damascus yesterday to call for a “step-by-step” process of trust-building measures toward a political resolution to the country’s civil war.
“I think there is a possibility now to start to explore what I call a 'step-for-step' approach where you put on the table steps that are defined with precisions, that are verifiable, that hopefully can start to build some trust,” Pedersen was quoted by Agence France-Presse as saying after meeting with Syria’s Foreign Minister Faisal Mekdad.
“My message is that there is another possibility to start to explore possible avenues, to start to move forward on this process,” the envoy said.
Pedersen’s meetings with senior members of President Bashar al-Assad’s regime come after the envoy met with representatives of major stakeholder countries in Europe, the United States and the Arab world over the past week, according to AFP.
