Syria

Yesterday I hosted a dinner for Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Turkey, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany and Italy to discuss Syria.

This useful meeting helped prepare the Vienna meetings in which I will be participating. We discussed the terms of a political transition guaranteeing the departure of Bashar al-Assad under a precise timetable, as well as the need to continue our efforts to combat Daesh [ISIL] in Syria while supporting the moderate Syrian opposition, whose role in future negotiations was emphasized. The beginning of a process needs to involve tangible changes on the ground that help the Syrian people. We will continue our discussions in this format./.