Participants of Syrian Talks Draft Agenda for Wednesday Round in Moscow

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — Members of internal Syrian opposition met in Moscow on Monday to adopt the agenda of upcoming talks with the government of Syrian President Bashar Assad, opposition leader Qadri Jamil told Sputnik.

“Today we discussed the draft agenda that was put forth by [Russian] moderator Vitaly Naumkin in a letter sent out to all participants ahead of the meeting. At the end of the meeting, we agreed in general to endorse this agenda with some cosmetic clarifications,” Jamil said.

Jamil, who is one of the leaders of the Syrian left-wing opposition People's Will Party and the Popular Front for Change and Liberation, said the agreed plan will help frame negotiations with the regime’s envoy and UN ambassador Bashar Jafari.

The 5-point agenda provides “1. an assessment of the current situation [in Syria]; 2. ways to alleviate the plight of the Syrian people and unite them in a fight against all kinds of threats, primarily terrorism; 3. a roadmap to rebuild trust between the regime and the opposition; 4. specifies steps that all sides to the Syrian conflict should take to reach a political settlement and national reconciliation; and 5. discuss a framework for political process based on the Geneva I communique issued in June 2012 and preparation for Geneva III [talks].”

The talks will continue on Tuesday when five representatives of the Popular Front will meet with five members from another opposition group, called the National Coordination Committee, as well as with some smaller political groups and independents. The government’s Bashar Jafari will join negotiators on Wednesday.

This is the second attempt at reconciling the rival Syrian parties with the help of Russia’s mediation, after January talks in Moscow and a UN-backed conference in Geneva failed to yield tangible results.