US and Russia to urge UN to set Syria peace talks in November

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 Secretary of State John Kerry said on Monday after talks with his Russian counterpart.

“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.

Kerry and Lavrov met at a resort on the sidelines of an Asia-Pacific summit in Bali, Indonesia, where they signed an agreement on nuclear risk reduction centres in Washington and Moscow, first created in 1987 to facilitate verification of arms control treaties and agreements.

Kerry and Lavrov met first with aides and then privately where they discussed ways to end Syria’s civil war and upcoming talks with Iran on ending a dispute over its nuclear weapons program.