Diplomats from the guarantors of the Astana format and United Nations Secretary-General’s Special Envoy for Syria Geir O. Pedersen held the meeting at the United Nations Office in Geneva on Wednesday to discuss the developments in Syria, particularly the third meeting of the Constitutional Committee, the situation in Idlib, and the task force on the exchange of abductees and missing persons.

At the beginning of the gathering, Pedersen gave a report on holding the first round of the third meeting of the Constitutional Committee.

The UN Special Envoy for Syria also expressed hope that the ceasefire in Idlib would continue, stressing the need for the exchange task force to proceed with its activities.

Diplomats representing the three guarantor states of the Astana Process also expressed their views in the meeting.

Ali Asghar Khaji, a senior assistant to the Iranian foreign minister, expounded on Tehran’s stances on Syria at the meeting. He stressed the need to respect Syria’s national sovereignty, independence, unity, and territorial integrity, and reaffirmed Iran’s commitment to fighting against terrorism in the region, especially in Syria.

He also emphasized the necessity of resolving the crisis in Syria through Syrian-Syrian dialogue and for the continuation of the Constitutional Committee’s activities, and voiced Iran’s readiness to support the continued performance of the Committee.

Khaji further called for the removal of the cruel and unilateral sanctions on the people of Syria and for the delivery of humanitarian aids to Syrians, specifically in the battle with the coronavirus pandemic, IFP reported.

The Iranian diplomat also highlighted the necessity for implementation of the existing agreements on Idlib, expressing hope that carrying out the agreements would establish sustainable calm in Idlib.

Khaji finally underlined the need for the resumption of activities of the exchange task force as a humanitarian and trust-building measure.

Members of the Syrian opposition have also arrived in the Swiss city where officials of the three nations acting as guarantors of a ceasefire in the war-torn country are meeting under the auspices of the United Nations.

“I don’t expect, let’s be frank, a major breakthrough, but I am confident progress is possible,” said UN envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura in a statement to the press in advance of the meetings, Al Jazeera reported.

“There is something moving in that direction and we need to capitalize on it.”

The meeting in Geneva follows up on the agreement signed at the Syrian National Dialogue Congress in Sochi, Russia, in January, whose final statement called for the creation of a constitutional commission comprising government, opposition and Syrian civil society members.

The creation of the constitutional committee would be the first step in the political solution of the conflict as mandated by the Security Council Resolution 2254.

“Besides government and opposition, it will be important that independents, civil society, experts, and women – and as you know, we have been strongly recommending at least 30 percent of women – all find their place into this constitutional committee. We must have an inclusive process,” said De Mistura.

“I want to discuss with Iran, Russia and Turkey some preliminary thinking – and hear their own views too – on how the Sochi Final Statement can be given effect to.”

De Mistura said the government of Syria had already conveyed to him a list of 50 names. De Mistura said serious efforts were underway to draw the opposition list.

The UN envoy called for the Geneva meeting after concluding a round of consultations that took him to Turkey, Iran and Egypt to discuss how to speed up the process for the creation of a constitutional committee.

Alexander Lavrentyev, the Russian presidential envoy for Syria, and Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Vershinin are attending the meetings for Russia.

Sedat Onal, the deputy undersecretary for foreign affairs of Turkey, and Hossein Jaberi Ansari, Iranian foreign minister’s special assistant for political affairs, are also attending the meeting.

The United Nations was scheduled to resume the peace talks between the government and the Syrian opposition in the Swiss city on Tuesday.

The opposition’s delegation arrived Monday, after publishing a communique last week that said it was ready for talks “without preconditions.”

“I can confirm we have received a message from Government of Syria indicating that their delegation would arrive tomorrow,” said Michael Contet, an adviser to UN Special Envoy to Syria Staffan de Mistura, AP reported.

The Syrian foreign ministry official in Damascus also said the delegation will take part in talks starting Wednesday afternoon and the delegation will be headed by Bashar Ja’afari, Syria’s representative at the United Nations.

As in previous talks, a major point of disagreement between the two sides will be the future of President Bashar al-Assad. The opposition’s position is that Assad must leave at the start of any transitional period that will lead Syria out of nearly seven years of civil war.

Damascus has refused to negotiate over Assad’s future in any talks with the opposition.

The head of the opposition’s delegation, Nasr Hariri, told reporters on Monday that the opposition was “ready to negotiate”.

De Mistura stressed he would “not accept any preconditions by any party” to talks, and said the talks would be guided by a 2015 Security Council resolution mandating a political transition for Syria.

This latest round of Geneva talks, the eighth since 2012, will focus on getting to an “inclusive process” to draft and ratify a new constitution, said de Mistura.