'Viennese Quartet' to expand number of participants in talks on Syria

Yesterday Vienna hosted two-hour talks on Syria, at which the parties have come to realize that the process of settlement of the Syrian conflict should involve other countries. The quadripartite meeting was attended by Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, US Secretary of State John Kerry, and the Foreign Ministers of Saudi Arabia and Turkey, Adel al-Dzhubeyr and Feridun Sinirlioglu.

Regarding the results of the meeting, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov stated that the four countries which participated in the negotiations are not enough to ensure effective external support of the settlement of the situation in Syria, the group should be expanded up to a dozen or more participants. "Today's quartet is not the quartet which usurps all the efforts. Moreover, at the meeting we started with this and we ended our discussion about this, this quartet is not enough to ensure effective external support for the inter-Syrian negotiations," he stressed, adding that the group of support should not be expanded endlessly, a dozen or so with small states and structures would be appropriate.

According to him, the "group of support" should be represented by all the permanent members of the UN Security Council, perhaps Germany and key states of the region: not only Saudi Arabia and Turkey, but also Egypt, Iran, Qatar, UAE, Jordan. The Minister also noted that the League of Arab States and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation may also be added to the negotiations. "I think that it is possible to also bear in mind the experience of the Iranian 'six', which worked with Tehran and successfully agreed on the settlement of the situation around the Iranian nuclear program, and in addition to the five permanent members of the Security Council, Germany participated in it. Perhaps the European Union as an institution, as an organization whose members are experiencing the increasingly negative impact of many crises in the Middle East and North Africa, could also be represented in such group of support," he said.

Lavrov also drew attention to the fact that the participants of the meeting discussed concrete ideas and "agreed to continue contacts." "And we have stressed the need to ensure that in parallel with the start of the inter-Syrian dialogue with the delegation of the government and the united opposition delegation, the patriotic opposition should provide external support for this process," RIA Novosti quoted him as saying.

In his turn, John Kerry informed that the next negotiations may be held on October 30. He also noted that, over time, Iran may be invited to join the negotiations on the Syrian settlement. A similar opinion was expressed yesterday by the head of EU diplomacy, Federica Mogherini. "All relevant partners, both regional and international, should be involved in the process. We had contacts with a high-ranking Iranian delegation – after the talks on the Iranian atom we have opened a channel – and I hope that Iran can be a part of this process," she stated.