Assad resignation issue not on Geneva agenda: Deputy FM

There will be no discussion concerning President Bashar al-Assad’s resignation at Geneva conference, Syrian Deputy Foreign Minister Faisal Meqdad said on Monday.
“Surely we will not speak about the resignation of Bashar Assad. We do not have such topic on the agenda, and never have, so take time to explain this to everyone who dreams about him resigning, that they are simply wasting our time.
“Such discussions are intolerable,” Meqdad said.
The first round of the Geneva-2 international conference on the Syrian peaceful settlement, which lasted more than a week, ended late January.
According to the UN and LAS special envoy Lakhdar Brahimi, negotiations between the representatives of the authorities and the opposition “had a tough start, and have made slow progress. “In essence, the delegations could not agree on any item.
Representatives of Damascus are unhappy with the composition of the opposition delegation and insist on a broader presence of opponents of Bashar al-Assad.
Today’s meeting will set the meetings’ schedule for the next few days.
Earlier the Syrian opposition hopes that Russia would convince Assad to resign, spokesperson to the National Coalition for Opposition and Revolutionary Forces (NCORF) Louay Safi told a news briefing.
“We strongly hope that Russia will convince the Syrian regime’s head to resign. This will be the safest decision for the future of Syria,” Safi claimed.
“Moscow is the only party, which has influence upon the government. Russia prevented any decision by the international community,” the NCORF spokesperson added.