23/01/2014 10:50
Geneva-2: Assad will not step down - Syrian Information Minister
Syria's Information Minister Omran al-Zoubi said on Wednesday that President Bashar al-Assad will not step down, as demanded by some of the international powers seeking to end the country's protracted conflict, the Voice of Russia reported.
"Assad isn't going," Omaran Zoabi told journalists on the sidelines of UN-sponsored face-to-face peace talks in the Swiss resort of Montreux.
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has hailed the first day of the Geneva-2 peace conference on Syria in the Swiss town of Montreux as productive.
Those were very important and constructive talks, Ban said.
He thanked the participants and stressed that more discussions were ahead.
The UN chief voiced hope that Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and US Secretary of State John Kerry would continue to play an active part in promoting peacemaking efforts aimed at ending the conflict in Syria.
Delegations from both the Syrian government and the opposition attended Geneva-2’s opening in Montreux on Wednesday.
The Montreux meeting will be followed by Syrian dialogue at the UN Geneva headquarters with UN and Arab League Special Representative for Syria Lakhdar Brahimi acting as a mediator.