UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon
(VOVworld) - UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon welcomed a commitment by President of the National Coalition for the Syrian opposition forces, Ahmad al-Jarba, to send a delegation to the Geneva Conference in mid-November. During a meeting on September 28, Ban also urged the National Coalition to reach out to other opposition groups and agree on a representative and united delegation.
In related news, Syrian Foreign Minister, Walid Muallem, said his country is "comfortable" with a UN Security Council resolution on destroying its chemical weapons and will not discuss the future of President Bashar al-Assad. He signaled that there could be no talk of Assad's departure, as the opposition and Western nations have demanded. Muallem said Assad was determined to see out his term and would stand for re-election in 2014.