2017年底，俄罗斯、土耳其和伊朗准备在索契召集叙利亚人开会。我按照秘书长的指示参加了索契会议，因为秘书长和我本人在维也纳与俄罗斯联邦的外交官达成谅解，即索契会议将有助于使联合国能够在日内瓦主持确立落实第2254（2015）号决议所要求的更广泛进程架构中的一个关键构件。
By the end of 2017, Russia, Turkey and Iran were preparing to convene a gathering of Syrians in Sochi. I attended the Sochi meeting on the guidance of the Secretary-General in the light of the understanding reached by the Secretary-General and myself in Vienna with diplomats of the Russian Federation that the Sochi meeting would make a contribution by enabling the United Nations to establish under its auspices in Geneva a key element in the architecture of the broader process that the realization of resolution 2254 (2015) requires.