![United Nations special envoy to Syria Geir Pedersen arrives in Damascus on January 15, 2019. [Photo: VCG]](http://img3.zhytuku.meldingcloud.com/images/zhycms_chinaplus/20190115/c79678a3-9019-476f-a938-b7c71c638e2f.jpg?x-oss-process=image/resize,w_650)
The new UN envoy to Syria Geir Pedersen arrived in Damascus on Tuesday, for the first time since his recent appointment.
After reaching the Four Seasons hotel in the heart of the capital Damascus, Pedersen, a Norwegian diplomat, told reporters that he hoped to have substantial and productive talks with Syrian officials during his three-day visit.
Pedersen’s predecessor, Staffan de Mistura, resigned his position over personal reasons after four years as the UN envoy to Syria.
Ayman Soussan, assistant of the Syrian Foreign Minister, was cited by pro-government al-Watan newspaper as saying the new envoy would achieve what his predecessors could not.
The Syrian government has expressed readiness to cooperate with the new UN envoy to make his mission a success, the newspaper said.
During his four-year mission to Syria, de Mistura failed to mediate a workable solution between the Syrian government and the opposition to end the more than seven-year crisis.
