GENEVA - UN Special Envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura said Wednesday that Syria talks scheduled to start today will take place on a staggered basis, with people involved in UN-backed discussions arriving up until the end of the week so as to start substantive talks by March 14.
"The good thing about proximity talks is that I am in a positon of staggering the talks, the dates, the days, the meeting rooms based on where and how they will be most fruitful. Any type of delay that I may decide to take will be based on how to make them more successful," he explained.
"We plan to start having informal talks already in hotels or here with whoever is arriving but the substantive, deeper part of it after the first preparation will be on Monday, god willing, the fourteenth," the special envoy added.
De Mistura also said that the first stage of talks will not last beyond March 24, after which a short recess will take place before discussions aiming to find a political solution to the Syrian crisis resume.
UN-led talks involving Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's government and opposition forces came to a premature standstill on Feb. 3 after parties failed to see eye to eye on a number of issues.
Since then, much progress has been made on both the humanitarian and cessation of hostilities front in the country at war since 2011.(Xinhua)