CAIRO
Preparations for the upcoming Geneva II conference on the Syria crisis dominated Thursday talks between Organization of Islamic Cooperation Secretary-General Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu, currently visiting Cairo, and Arab League Secretary-General Nabil al-Arabi.
"We discussed the Geneva II conference and the difficulties facing it," Ihsanoglu told reporters following the meeting.
"We agreed to stress the importance that the upcoming conference is based on the Geneva I conference," he added. "And we saw eye-to-eye on the importance of reaching an understanding on the mechanism to apply the Geneva I outcome."
Geneva II, which aims to find a political solution to the conflict in Syria, had initially been planned for late May, after having first been proposed at a Moscow meeting between US Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov.
Amid heated disagreements as to who should have seats at the table, however, the event was subsequently postponed.
In November, UN chief Ban Ki-moon set January 22 as the conference's starting date.
Syria has been in the throes of conflict since 2011, when a peaceful uprising against the Damascus regime escalated following a violent government crackdown.
According to the UN, more than 100,000 people have been killed in the conflict so far.
By Mustafa Youssef
englishnews@aa.com.tr
