Ban Says UN Ready to Host Geneva II in Mid-November

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said that the international community aims to hold Syria peace conference, Geneva II, in mid-November.

“The United Nations is ready to host Geneva-2,” Ban said according to UN News Center.
Today can and must be a stepping stone to peace.”

“It is time for the parties to focus on how to build the peaceful, democratic future Syria needs,” Ban went on, adding that the conference should be fully representative of the Syrian people.

“All those with influence on the parties must use that influence now. It is crucial to keep up the momentum,” he said.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov urged all parties to the Syrian civil conflict to join the talks.

“We expect that increasingly fragmented Syrian opposition groups will finally be able to declare their readiness to take part in the international conference without preconditions, as the Syrian government did,” he said.

UN Security Council unanimously passed on Friday a resolution ordering the destruction of Syria’s arsenal of chemical weapons.