DAMASCUS, Oct. 24 (Xinhua) -- The UN special envoy to Syria Staffan de Mistura arrived in Damascus on Wednesday for talks with Syrian officials, a week after his decision to resign by the end of November.
The envoy is expected to meet with Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Muallem first to discuss the creation of the constitutional committee which will be tasked with drafting a post-war constitution.
The constitutional committee is expected to include 150 members, equally divided into three groups, one chosen by the government, the second by the opposition and the third by De Mistura himself.
In recent remarks ahead of his visit to Damascus, de Mistura said the objection remains, mainly from the government, over the third list that the UN is tasked with to include civil society representatives, religious and tribal leaders, experts and women in the committee.
Apparently, the envoy will try to ease the concerns of Damascus about the third list.
The 71-year-old UN envoy, who said he will resign at the end of November for "purely personal reasons" and whose successor has not yet been named, expressed hope to "be in a position" to convene the constitutional committee in November.
The Russians also seem to push for the formation of the constitutional committee, as a plan to draft a new Syrian constitution which has been under discussion since January.
But the process has since been hampered by disagreements over the formation of the committee to draft the charter.
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad met with visiting Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Vershinin on Friday to discuss the political process in Syria.
