The United Nations envoy for Syria Geir Pedersen said the first round of Geneva talks on Syria’s constitution went “much better” than many would have expected. The government and opposition co-chairs of the Constitutional Committee have agreed to meet again on November 25. “It’s been a very good start,” Pedersen said, wrapping up the first round of the committee meeting at the UN headquarters in Geneva on Friday. “For me the important thing is that the different sides have come together, listened and treated each other with respect, working professionally and dealing with painful, substantial issues... I hope that we can continue in this spirit,” he said. “I believe it has gone much better than most people would have expected,” he told reporters in Geneva, while stressing that the 150-member commission is “not the solution to the conflict”. The Norwegian diplomat said the week-long talks had centred on issues of Syrian sovereignty, territorial integrity, rule of law and ...
