GENEVA: The United States and Russia will hold a third and final day of talks in the Swiss city of Geneva on Saturday in an effort to hammer out a deal regarding the recent Russian proposal to place Syria’s chemical weapons under international control.
The two sides, led by US Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, have already agreed that a political solution to the crisis in Syria is the only realistic way to end the violence in the country.
On Friday, Lavrov and Kerry met with UN-Arab League Special Representative for Syria Lakhdar Brahimi on the sidelines of their summit in Geneva and vowed to make an effort to restart the long-delayed Geneva 2 peace conference on Syria.
“We both agreed … to meet again in New York around the time of the UN General Assembly around the 28th [of September] in order to see if it is possible then to find a date for that conference,” Kerry said.
The three also expressed hope that the negotiations over Syrian chemical weapons would open the door to wider efforts to stop the conflict in Syria.
The Geneva 2 peace conference on Syria has so far failed to take place as Syria’s foreign-backed opposition coalition remains divided over taking part in the planned event.
