United Nations Special Envoy to Syria Geir Pedersen attends a session of the peace talks on Syria in Kazakhstan, April 26, 2019. Photo: Reuters / Mukhtar Kholdorbekov / File.

A second week-long round of Syrian talks has ended without a meeting of the group of 45 delegates meant to be negotiating on the constitution, United Nations Special Envoy Geir Pedersen said on Friday.

The Syrian government and opposition co-chairs were unable to agree on agenda for the constitutional talks, he told reporters.

“We have been trying to reach consensus but as I said we are not there yet,” Pedersen said.

The talks are meant to be a step forward in what the UN says will be a long road to political rapprochement, followed by elections.

But experts question whether President Bashar al-Assad will be willing to cede much in any negotiations after his Russian- and Iranian-back forces recaptured large areas of the country in offensives against rebels and militants since 2015.