Elections in Syria are scheduled to hold in a year and a half

Participants in the international meeting in Syria, who had completed in Vienna, agreed on the need to hold elections in this country after 18 months. This was stated by the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Germany Frank-Walter Steinmeier at the end of negotiations, reports Reuters.

“No one has no illusions about how difficult it is to fulfill this task,” the minister said. In addition, it was decided to immediately begin negotiations with Syrian opposition groups.

The Western powers and their allies insisted that, within the framework of any political resolution of the conflict, the Syrian dictator Bashar Assad should leave. However, his allies Russia and Iran demanded that Assad could participate in the elections.

According to the diplomats, the main issue of the meeting was to determine the list of terrorist groups in Syria, which will not be allowed to the political process. This topic was discussed by the head of the Russian Foreign Ministry Sergei Lavrov and US Secretary of State John Kerry during a bilateral conversation that was held before the negotiations.

At the end of the meeting, the Foreign Ministry of Livan Dzhubra Basil said that all parties agreed that the Islamic State and Jabhat al-Nusra group should be considered terrorist. However, this list cannot be considered closed.

The previous round of international negotiations took place in Vienna on October 30. According to the results of the meeting, Syria should have formed a transition government , and then elections should be formed and a new constitution was adopted. 19 delegations took part in the negotiations, including from Russia, the USA, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Iran, the UAE, Qatar, Jordan, Germany, France, Egypt, Italy, Great Britain, Iraq and Livan.

In a joint statement following negotiations, ministers also spoke out for holding a new meeting on Syria with the participation of representatives of Assad and the Syrian opposition. Before its implementation, the parties promise to achieve the establishment of a truce throughout the country. There will be no armistice with the "Islamic state". It and other structures from the list of extremist organizations of the UN must be destroyed, the document said.

In Syria, a single secular state should be preserved with all its institutions. The process of political settlement will be carried out by the Syrian people. The people of Syria will determine its future, the statement is noted.

The ministers agreed to intensify the diplomatic efforts to stop the conflict and achieve the opportunity to deliver humanitarian aid throughout Syria.