UN envoy to the war-torn country, Staffan de Mistura, arrived in Davos for the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum, during which he is expected to hold several meetings on Syria. Today, de Mistura was seen at the Congress Hall meeting with the international Red Cross President, Peter Maurer, who emphasized the hope that the different political processes advanced by Russia, Iran and Turkey on the one hand, with another initiative by the United Nations, on the other, would alleviate the violence in the country, which would allow for more humanitarian aid to reach civilians.
“Fighting and violence still continues in Syria. And the challenge is to build a sustainable humanitarian operation in a context of insecurity and fighting which is still ongoing. We hope of course that all the different political processes will bear fruit. We have hoped for a long time that it will lead to more of a tapering down of violence in the country, which immediately would allow us to do more,” said Maurer.
Moscow launched a push for peace talks in the Kazakh capital, Astana, which is expected to take place next week – even though no date has yet been confirmed. The United Nations bid, on the other hand, is expected to be held in Geneva on the 8th of February.