Syria's constitutional committee's work 'beginning of political process' to end civil war

DAMASCUS - Recent developments and official meetings in Syria and abroad have ushered in the declaration of Syria's long-awaited constitutional committee that would be tasked with rewriting the country's constitution.

Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Moallem announced on Monday the launching of the Syrian constitutional committee's work.

Al-Moallem made the announcement on Monday evening at a reception held by the Chinese embassy in Damascus.

He said it comes after 18 months of talks.

For her side, Buthaina Shabaan, the presidential political advisor, told Xinhua during the reception that she hopes the committee could be a beginning to a political process to end the Syrian war.

"We are happy about the agreement on the names of the constitutional committee members and the launching of the constitutional committee and we hope it could be the beginning of a political process to end the war that has been imposed on us for more than eight years," she said.

Earlier in the day, Geir Pedersen, UN special envoy for Syria, discussed the final details about the constitutional committee with al-Moallem in the capital Damascus.

After the meeting with al-Moallem, Pedersen said that he had concluded "very successful" discussions on the formation of a constitutional committee.

Pedersen said his Monday's meeting with al-Moallem tackled old standing issues regarding the formation of the committee.

"I have concluded another round of very successful discussion with Foreign Minister al-Moallem, we addressed all the old standing issues related to the constitutional committee," he told reporters.

The envoy also said that he had concluded similarly successful talks with the head of the oppositional Syrian Negotiation Commission (SNC), Nasr al-Hariri, who is based in Turkey.

"Today I am also being in contact and have had good discussions with the leader of the SNC, Naser al-Hariri, and as I said, it was a very positive discussion with him," he noted.

For his side, al-Moallem said Monday that the Syrian government is committed to a political process to end the more than eight-year crisis.

The minister's remarks were made during his meeting with Pedersen.

According to state news agency SANA, both sides discussed the formation of the constitutional committee and the mechanisms of its work far from foreign interference.

SANA said the meeting was "constructive and positive and that points of view were matching one another".

After concluding the meetings on Monday, Pedersen briefed the Secretary-General of the United Nations Antonio Guterres about the outcome of his discussions.

Hours later, Guterres said that all relevant parties in Syria have agreed on the composition of a committee tasked to rewrite the country's constitution.

He said Pedersen is doing "the final work" with the parties in relation to the terms of reference.

Under an intra-Syrian agreement reached in Sochi, Russia in January 2018, the constitutional committee is to be composed of representatives of the Syrian government, the opposition and civil society representatives, each with 50 members.

The constitutional committee is considered a key element in the Syrian political process.