Chief diplomats from the UN veto powers and Syria's neighbouring countries gathered Tuesday in Geneva to discuss how to bring the Syrian regime and the opposition to the negotiating table for peace talks, dpa reported.
The talks started with a meeting of top Russian and US foreign ministry officials with Lakhdar Brahimi, the UN and Arab League's envoy on Syria.
A meeting with counterparts from the other permanent UN Security Council members - China, Britain and France - was scheduled for later Tuesday.
Envoys from Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Turkey and the Arab League would also take part, a UN spokeswoman said.
It was unclear if a date for the planned peace talks in Geneva would be set ahead of a meeting by the opposition Syrian National Coalition on Saturday in Istanbul to decide whether to even attend.
The coalition has demanded a timetable for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to step down as a pre-condition for attending.
The Syrian conflict, which began with peaceful anti-government protests in 2011, has killed more than 100,000 people, according to UN estimates.