UN: De Mistura invites for talks about Syria on Sept 14

The UN peace envoy for Syria will host senior officials from a range of Western and Middle-Eastern countries next month for talks on drafting a new Syrian constitution, the UN said Tuesday (August 28), France Press reported.

He is already set to host a meeting on Sept. 11-12 at the UN’s European headquarters in Geneva of senior officials from the main foreign powers backing the project, Assad regime allies Russia and Iran, as well as Turkey.

UN spokeswoman Alessandra Vellucci said de Mistura had convened a one-day meeting on Sept. 14 with senior representatives from Egypt, France, Germany, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, the United Kingdom and the United States.

The meeting, Vellucci said, was to focus on "the way ahead on the political process" for Syria, "including the UN effort to facilitate the establishment of a constitutional committee."

De Mistura has said he wants to have the constitutional committee in place before world leaders meet at the General Assembly in New York in late September.