MOSCOW. Jan 22 (Interfax) - The main efforts towards the settlement of the Syrian conflict will begin on January 24 with the launch of negotiations between the conflicting sides with the mediation of UN/LAS envoy for Syria Lakhdar Brahimi, the Russian Foreign Ministry said.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov met with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon in Montreux on Tuesday to confer on issues related to the international peace conference for Syria, which begins on January 22, the ministry said.
"The sides expressed a common opinion that the convocation of the conference was an important event. They stressed also that the main work would start on January 24 with the launch of negotiations between the conflicting sides with the mediation of L. Brahimi. Within the framework of this process, the Syrians are bound to make independent decisions regarding fundamental issues of the future of their state," the ministry said in a report posted on Wednesday.
The ministry said Ban had praised the efforts of Russia and the United States, which initiated the conference, and Brahimi "in the arrangement of this important event, which is supposed to launch the inter-Syrian political dialogue."
"S. Lavrov noted that the decisions made at the negotiations must be based on mutual consent and strictly comply with the Geneva communique of June 30, 2012. L. Brahimi said he would concentrate on measures building up confidence between the sides alongside confirmation of the sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity of Syria. The unification of efforts of all Syrians in the deterrence of terrorism in the spirit of the statement made by the G8 leaders in Loch Erne should become a major element of the inter-Syrian dialogue," the report said.
Lavrov and Kerry held a bilateral meeting at the final stage of preparations for the Geneva II conference. "The task of the soonest possible termination of bloodshed on Syrian land and the establishment of an inter-Syrian, comprehensive dialogue for the elaboration of a common vision of the future of Syria as a united, independent, democratic and secular state was the focal point," the Russian Foreign Ministry said in its report.
"There was an exchange of opinions about prospects for the promotion of the Palestinian-Israeli negotiations and the task of general stabilization in the Middle East," the ministry said.