The El Salvador dialogue process facilitated by the United Nations enters a new, technical phase today founded on the consultations conducted by Special Envoy of the Secretary-General Benito Andión, whose mandate has now concluded. This phase aims to support specific proposals and recommendations from different sectors of Salvadoran society with a view to help create conditions for a political dialogue.  The United Nations will continue to support this process through the deployment of a technical team. The Secretary-General’s good offices will remain available and could resume once conditions for a political dialogue are ripe.

Background:
At the request of the Government of El Salvador, and within the framework of the sustaining peace agenda, the United Nations has sought to support dialogue and national consensus in El Salvador since May 2016.  As part of this effort, on 16 January 2017, the Secretary-General appointed Benito Andión of Mexico as his Special Envoy for a period of six months in order to facilitate the dialogue.