Tripartite meeting on Syria ends without concrete outcome

A meeting of officials of the UN, Russia and the US on preparation work for the Geneva Conference on Syria has concluded without producing any concrete results.

UN-Arab League Joint Special Representative for Syria Lakhdar Brahimi, Russian Deputy Ministers of Foreign Affairs Mikhail Bogdanov and Gennady Gatilov, and US Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs Wendy Sherman attended the meeting.

"The discussions were constructive, and focused on ways to ensure that the Geneva Conference on Syria can take place with the best chances of success," Xinhua quoted a statement issued by the UN as saying.

It said the closed-door meeting has been informed that Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and US Secretary of State John Kerry would be meeting next week.

Further consultations among the UN, Russia and the US would take place thereafter on the date of the conference, the statement said.

Brahimi said before the meeting Tuesday that the conference on finding a political solution to the more than two-year long Syrian crisis was unlikely to take place in July.

"Frankly now I doubt whether the conference will take place in July. The opposition, I think their next meeting is on July 4 and 5, so I don't think they will be ready," Brahimi said.