The American, European, Arab and Turkish ministers and officials who met on December 14 in Aqaba for the , will meet again in January in Paris to continue “harmonizing their messages”, the French foreign minister announced today.
After the fall of Bashar al-Assad on December 8, Westerners are emphasizing the need for an inclusive political transition in Syria.
The December 14 meeting allowed us to reiterate the principle of a “credible and inclusive, Syrian-led transition, based on the principles of UN Security Council Resolution 2254,” said UN Syria envoy Geir Pedersen.
“Together with our Arab partners, Turkey, the United States, Britain, Germany and the European Union, we met last Saturday, December 14, in Aqaba, Jordan, to coordinate our collective and conditional support for a transition in Syria”, underlined today Jean-Noel Barot.
“We set out in a statement the guiding principles of our engagement in Syria,” he added. “This group will have a duration, and we will host in Paris its second meeting,” he said without specifying the exact date.
When asked by AFP, associates of the minister were unable to provide more information.
As a group of four French diplomats traveled to Damascus on Tuesday, Barot also stressed that France was not ruling out having “any contact in the future”.
“The main thing is not to know which interlocutor everyone is meeting, but the convergence of the messages that pass to the de facto authorities,” he stressed. “That is why it was so important that France was represented last Saturday in Aqaba, so that the messages of the international community could be harmonized,” he insisted.
Resolution 2254, adopted in 2015, reaffirms the “firm commitment to the sovereignty, independence, unity and territorial integrity of the Syrian Arab Republic” and sets out a road map for a political settlement in Syria.
Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), the former Syrian branch of al-Qaeda, which led the operations that led to the fall of Bashar al-Assad, says it has broken with jihadism, despite being branded “terrorist” by Western capitals. including Washington.
APE/MPE
