Geneva-2 conference to begin in Montreux

It took eight months to fix a date for the forum which has been dubbed "Geneva-2". Sometimes, it seemed thst the conference, which had been proposed by Russia and the United States in May last year, would not be convened at all. However, the Syrian sides, not without assistance from the international community, still mustered strength to launch a dialogue and tried to stop the conflict, to which more than 100,000 people had fallen victim, according to the most conservative estimates. The first day of the Geneva-2 is assigned for speeches by Foreign ministers, officials and delegations from almost 40 countries. Swiss President Didier Burkhalter will declare the forum open as representative of the host country. UN Secretay-General Ban Ki-moon and the foreign-policy chiefs of Russia and the US will then take the floor. After that, representatives of the Syrian government and the opposition will mount the rostrum. Priority in which their speeches will be made has not been fixed so far, just as that of speeches to be delivered by the chief delegates of the leading world and regional powers. Some aspects still remain unclear up to now, which emphasizes once again the utterly complicated situation in which preparations for the peace conference were being made. For instance, even now, less than several hours prior to the opening of the forum, one cannot say exactly which particular oppositional forces have arrived in Motreux. Read more