Turkey, Iran, Russia and the UN voiced hope Tuesday (December 18th) that a committee charged with writing a new Syrian constitution will start work early next year, AFP reported.
The Syrian government, which is backed by Moscow and Tehran, has not yet agreed to the committee, saying it will only support a process that alters Syria's existing constitution.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov -- flanked by his Iranian counterpart Mohammad Javad Zarif and Turkey's Mevlut Cavusoglu -- read a joint declaration after talks with UN Syria envoy Staffan de Mistura.
Russia, Iran and opposition backer Turkey "agreed to take efforts aimed at convening the first session of the Constitutional Committee in Geneva early next year," Lavrov said.
The committee has become the centerpiece of UN peace efforts in Syria and aims to set up elections that can turn the page on seven years of devastating war.
De Mistura, who will be replaced as UN envoy on January 7th, praised the "significant joint input" from the three countries.
But the US Tuesday recalled that the initial goal had been to set up the body within 2018.
"The establishment and convening by the end of the year of a credible and balanced constitutional committee in Geneva is an important step to lasting de-escalation and a political solution to this conflict," State Department spokesman Robert Palladino said in Washington.