India to support Geneva II meet

External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid will extend India’s support to the peace initiatives in Syria during the ‘Geneva II’ international conference, which will be held at Montreux in Switzerland on Wednesday to help resolve the conflict in the West Asian country.

Khurshid, who left for Geneva on Tuesday, will also reiterate New Delhi’s stand against military intervention in Syria.

The conference, dubbed  “Geneva II”, is expected to have participations at the level of ministers from all the invited countries on Wednesday and Thursday. The conclave will be followed by a political dialogue involving all concerned parties of Syria and representatives of the United Nations on Thursday and Friday.

Official sources said that Geneva-II was viewed by India as “a convergence of the evolved positions of global and regional powers” with New Delhi’s own stated position on supporting a comprehensive political settlement of the crisis involving all parties to the conflict in Syria.

New Delhi last month sent Joint Secretary (West Asia and North Africa) in the Ministry of External Affairs, Sandeep Kumar, to Syria for the first official-level visit from India to the West Asian country since the crisis began in 2011. 

Kumar, according to the sources, had extensive discussions with various Syrian officials as well as with Hassan Abdul Azim, who heads the National Coordination Committee for Democratic Change, the main opposition in Syria.