The EU will host a conference on the post-conflict future of Syria with the UN in Brussels on April 5th, AFP reported Monday (March 6th).

The conference, following on from a similar meeting in London early last year, "will assess regional conditions and the conditions on which post-conflict assistance can be provided once a credible political transition is in place", said foreign affairs head Federica Mogherini.

The EU has consistently backed UN efforts to end the conflict in Syria, which has cost more than 310,000 lives and displaced millions since 2011.

At the last round of UN-sponsored talks in Geneva on Friday, Damascus and the opposition agreed a "clear agenda" to end the war, according to UN envoy Staffan de Mistura.

He said there had been progress and he hoped to be able to invite both sides back to Geneva later this month for a new round of talks.

The Geneva peace talks run in parallel with negotiations in Astana, Kazakhstan, brokered by Russia and Turkey, and which are focused on maintaining a fragile ceasefire reached in December after regime forces recaptured Aleppo.

A new Astana meeting is expected to take place before the next Geneva talks.

The EU expects UN chief Antonio Guterres to attend the Brussels talks in April, along with senior officials from most of the countries that attended the original London conference in February 2016, European officials said.