UN envoy Staffan de Mistura said Thursday the next round of Syria peace talks will begin on April 13 after he completes a diplomatic tour, including stops in Damascus and Tehran. "I will be very much insisting and pushing for... a serious discussion on political transition" at the upcoming round, de Mistura told reporters.
The United Nations had previously said the negotiations aimed at ending the five-year conflict would resume on April 11. At the last round, which ended on March 24, the Damascus regime insisted it was premature to have a concrete dialogue on creating a transitional government, while the main opposition High Negotiations Committee (HNC) put forward its plan towards forming a new government. De Mistura told journalists that in order to make progress on political transition next week, he needed to meet in person with key regional players and Syria's government. "I need to verify the international and regional stakeholders' position" in order to have "concrete results in the next round of talks", de Mistura said, adding that he expected to be back in Geneva on April 12 or 13.
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