'Very good' meeting held on Syria: Mogherini

European Union foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini has described as "very good" the latest round of international talks on the Syrian crisis in Vienna.

"The process can definitively start" toward reaching a settlement for the nearly five-year conflict in Syria, Mogherini told journalists at the end of the day-long talks held in the Austrian capital on Saturday.

The fresh round of talks on the Syrian crisis opened in Vienna with the participation of senior representatives from 17 countries, the UN, EU and Arab League.

Ceasefire by year end: German FM

Also speaking following the talks, German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said the Vienna meeting had resulted in an agreement to convene meetings between the opposition and the government of President Bashar al-Assad and establish a ceasefire by January 1. 

"No one is lying to themselves about the difficulties we are facing, but the determination to find a solution has progressed in 14 days," since the first round of talks in Vienna.

"It still appears Utopian but we have all the powers around the table," said Steinmeier.

He also said that there will be efforts to create a new constitution for the war-torn country and attempts to create a transitional government within six months.

Need for global coalition to defeat Daesh: Lavrov

Meanwhile, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Saturday that there is a growing understanding of the need for the formation of an international coalition to defeat the Daesh Takfiri terrorists.

Lavrov made the remarks during a joint press conference with US Secretary of State John Kerry and UN Envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura at the end of the multilateral meeting in Vienna.

He said Moscow and Washington agreed to place the Daesh Takfiris and the al-Qaeda-linked al-Nusra Front militants on the common list of terrorist organizations and stressed that other terrorist groups should also be added to it.

"We should fight them for their destruction," the Russian foreign minister said.

He noted that Jordan would oversee a process that would determine which groups should be considered terrorists.

This process should be completed by the time the political process between the government and opposition begins in January, he added.

The Russian foreign minister said most but not all parties to the Vienna talks were in favor of an immediate ceasefire in Syria.

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has instructed his officials to work out a plan for monitoring the ceasefire in Syria, Lavrov said.

New Syria meeting in one month

World diplomats seeking to find a solution to the Syrian crisis would meet again in "approximately one month" to review progress towards a ceasefire and the start of a political process in the crisis-hit country, said an official statement issued at the end of the Vienna talks on Saturday.

According to the joint statement released by the United Nations, the participants agreed on a set calendar for a transition government in Syria within six months and elections in 18 months.

The negotiations between the Syrian sides are to establish a "credible, inclusive and nonsectarian" transitional government that would set a schedule for drafting a new constitution within six months, the statement said.

It added that a free and fair election would then be held within 18 months under the supervision of the United Nations.

The previous round of talks on the crisis in Syria was held in the Austrian capital on October 30. Foreign ministers of 17 countries, including Iran, the US and Saudi Arabia, took part in the day-long meeting, which was also attended by envoys from the United Nations and the European Union, to discuss the Syrian crisis.

At the end of the talks, the participants agreed on respecting Syria’s national unity and sovereignty as well as eradicating the terrorist groups operating in the Arab country.

However, they remained at loggerheads over the role that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad would play in Syria’s political process. While some countries, such as the US and its regional allies, want the removal of the Syrian leader as part of a solution to the issue, others, including Iran and Russia, say only the Syrian nation can have a say on the matter.

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