Attending the first meeting of the 4th regular session of the People's Assembly, al-Halqi said that the government's project is clear, “it wants a pluralistic, democratic, free, sovereign and resistant country that isn't subservient to any side”.

He said the government is continuing to hold meetings and consultations with political and social forces and parties in preparation for holding the national dialogue conference, and that the government welcomes the recent agreement reached by Russia and the US which involves organizing an international conference to follow up on the 2012 Geneva meeting.

Moscow and Washington agreed to hold an “international peace conference” on Syria, which will serve as a follow-up to an earlier Geneva meeting, which was held in June 2012.

The Geneva agreement, which was never implemented, set out a path toward a transitional government without ever spelling out the fate of President Bashar al-Assad.

The Prime Minister asserted that the Syrian government will work responsibly with the countries sponsoring this conference and interact with any initiative for resolving the crisis that doesn't contradict national standards.

Al-Halqi said recent events such as “the chemical weapons issue, the Israeli aggression on areas in Syria, the bombings in al-Rihaniye in Turkey, and the meetings in Washington attended by the Arab League Secretary General and a number of Arab foreign Minister”  showed the scale of coordination in targeting Syria and conspiracies against the country.

The crisis in Syria began in March 2011, and many people, including large numbers of soldiers and security personnel, have been killed in the violence.