DHAKA: The United States and Russia have agreed to press the United Nations to set a date for a Syria peace conference sometime in the second week of November.

US state secretary John Kerry said on Monday after talks with his Russian counterpart, reports The Jerusalem Post.

‘We will urge a date to be set as soon as possible,’ Kerry told reporters at a joint news conference with Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov.

Kerry also said that the start of the destruction of chemical weapons in Syria was a ‘good beginning’ and, in unusual praise for Damascus, said Syria’s government should be given credit for complying with a recent UN resolution to destroy its chemical weapons arsenal.

‘I am not going to vouch today for what happens months down the road but it is a good beginning, and we should welcome a good beginning,’ he added.

BDST: 2012 HRS, OCT 07, 2013
RoR/SRS