(21 Mar 2016) RESTRICTION SUMMARY: AP CLIENTS ONLY
AP TELEVISION - AP CLIENTS ONLY
Geneva - 21 March 2016
1. Bashar Ja'afari during press conference
2. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Bashar Ja'afari, Head of Syrian government delegation at peace talks in Geneva and Syrian UN ambassador:
"We have not progressed a lot, the talks were good with the (UN) Special Envoy (for Syria,Staffan de Mistura) but there is not real interaction with the other parties and that is why I am saying up till now as a delegation from the Syrian Arab Republic we submitted an official letter and we did reply on a query letter from the special envoy but we have not received anything from the other parties and this is a prove that we are a serious delegation that has serious instructions from our political leadership to engage in this dialogue but we have not received from the other parties anything till now."
3. Camera
4. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Bashar Ja'afari, Head of Syrian government delegation at peace talks in Geneva and Syrian UN ambassador:
"There is no doubt that the meeting between the ministers Lavrov and Kerry is important but this dialogue is supposed to be intra-Syrians without any foreign intervention. If the delegation of Saudi Arabia (referring to the Saudi-backed Syrian opposition HNC, High Negotiations Committee) is waiting for the instructions of his sponsors after the Lavrov-Kerry meeting, then it is their choice but this is a violation of the Geneva talks principles."
5. Cameras
6. SOUNDBITE (English) Bashar Ja'afari, Head of Syrian government delegation at peace talks in Geneva and Syrian UN ambassador:
"President Assad has nothing to do with the Syrian-Syrian indirect talks. The references of our talks do not indicate anything, do not give any indication whatsoever with regard the issue of the President of the Syrian Arab Republic so this is something that is already excluded from the scene."
7. UN Special envoy Staffan De Mistura heading to podium
8. Media
9. SOUNDBITE (English) Staffan De Mistura, UN Special envoy to Syria:
"The visit to Moscow by John Kerry, Secretary of State Kerry and Sergey Lavrov. Nothing in this situation is pure coincidental (coincidence), everything is interconnected and therefore we will have to look at the whole picture in connection with what we are doing here and what I hope and certainly believe can be done in Moscow and beyond."
10. News Conference
11. SOUNDBITE (English) Staffan De Mistura, UN Special envoy to Syria:
"(Referring to Bashar Ja'afari) He said – and I am not revealing a secret – it was premature at the moment to talk about it (what political transition means). My message was 'premature means imminent' as far as we are concerned. It is important to start addressing their own understanding. It is clear the political transition is the mother of all issues, no one has questioned that."
12. Media
13. De Mistura leaving
STORYLINE:
The head of Syria's government delegation has described the peace talks in Geneva as positive but added no progress has been made in this round of talks.
His comments came as indirect peace talks entered a second week.
Bashar Ja'afari, Syria's U.N. ambassador, told reporters a week and a half had been "wasted" waiting for a response to a document containing "fundamental principles" for negotiations that his team submitted to the U.N.'s Syria envoy last week.
The document focuses on the importance of fighting terrorism in Syria before anything else.
After meeting with the U.N. envoy, Staffan de Mistura on Monday, Ja'afari added that the opposition is procrastinating and not engaging in serious negotiations.
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