Secretary-General Welcomes Outcome of Syria Talks in Vienna, Urges Participants to Build upon Areas of Agreement, Pledging Full United Nations Support

SG/SM/17285

31 October 2015

The following statement was issued today by the Spokesman for UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon:

The Secretary-General welcomes the outcome of the Vienna meeting on Syria on 30 October and congratulates the participants, in particular United States Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian Federation Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, for their leadership, commitment and determination.

As the participants in the Vienna meeting acknowledged themselves, substantial differences remain. The Secretary-General hopes that in the coming days and weeks they will be able to narrow down these differences and build on areas of agreement.

The Syrian people have suffered too much for too long. The Secretary-General strongly urges the Syrian Government and opposition to take all possible steps to support the opening provided by the agreement in Vienna to bring the Syrian crisis to an end. He pledges the full support of the United Nations in moving the process forward.

Daily Noon Briefing

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