Syrian National Dialogue Congress
© Valery Sharufulin/TASS Host Photo Agency/AFPSyrian National Dialogue Congress
The Syrian National Dialogue Congress meeting in Sochi, Russia has agreed to create a committee that will work on a new constitution for Syria. The body is expected to operate under the auspices of the UN in Geneva.

"A Constitutional Committee is to be formed, comprising the government of the Syrian Arab republic delegation along with a wide-represented opposition delegation for drafting a constitutional reform," UN special envoy to Syria Staffan De Mistura said, addressing the Congress. "In your final declaration today you've embraced 12 principles, developed in the Geneva political process, which describes a vision of Syria, that all Syrians should be able to share."

The UN official said there were heated discussion during the Congress, but added it's a completely normal occurrence during democratic negotiations. The new panel is perceived to be a valuable contribution to the Geneva process - "the political settlement under the auspices of the UN [and] in accordance with Security Council Resolution 2254," de Mistura underlined.

Moscow expects de Mistura and the UN to take practical steps to implement the decisions taken at the Sochi Congress, and to actively participate in the drafting of a new constitution for Syria, Russia's Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told reporters. "We are not trying to look into the future now. We've agreed today that the results of the Congress are presented to the UN in hope that they will stimulate the Geneva process," Lavrov said.

"Staffan de Mistura has all the powers needed, given by the Resolution 2254. The support to these... De Mistura's powers was shown during the Congress and he was asked to actively engage in work on the Constitution."

The three countries, who brokered the Sochi Congress, Russia Iran and Turkey will fully support the UN and de Mistura in the implementation of its outcomes, Lavrov added.

The Constitution Commission will comprise 150 members and the full list will be forwarded to the UN following the settling of some minor issues, Russia's Special Presidential envoy to Syria Aleksandr Lavrentyev said. Some 1,393 delegates took part in the Congress, according to the envoy, while over 1,500 invitations had been sent out beforehand.

The Constitutional Committee will also include delegates from those groups who did not attend the Sochi gathering for whatever reason, Lavrov said. "Obviously, no one expected that it'll be possible to gather representatives of absolutely all groups of the Syrian nation - both loyal to the government, neutral and opposition. The fact that two-three groups could not participate should not be seen as a tragedy," Russia's top diplomat stated.