Kerry: Russia Talks made Progress on Syria

Local Editor

US Secretary of State John Kerry said on Tuesday that his meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov had made progress on plans to hold a Syria peace conference.

He further reiterated that both sides had agreed it should be held soon.
"We narrowed down some of the options with respect to the potential of that conference. We both agreed that that conference should happen sooner rather than later," Kerry told reporters in Brunei, where he is attending an Asian regional security meeting.

But he said that the conference, originally planned for June, could not happen this month due to US-Russian meetings and that "August is very difficult for Europeans and others," a likely reference to summer vacations.

"It may be somewhere thereafter," he said of the timing of the conference.
Kerry said that he and Lavrov shared the view of the last Geneva conference in June 2012 that the best solution for Syria was a political transition, with the regime and the opposition each picking members of a transitional government.

"We agreed that we are both serious, more than serious, committed to the Geneva process," he said.

Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team