Geneva, January 30 (RHC)-- UN-Arab League Special Envoy to Syria Lakhdar Brahimi says there is a "quite large" gap between rival sides in the Geneva II conference.

At a news conference following Wednesday's talks in the Swiss city, Brahimi said: "To be blunt, I do not expect that we will achieve anything substantive." He added that the ice between the opposition and the Syrian government was “breaking slowly.”

The special envoy added that on Friday, the two sides would decide about a time frame for the second phase of the talks, which got underway in the Swiss city of Montreux on January 22nd. The talks are aimed at finding a political solution to the deadly crisis that has gripped Syria since March 2011, but the two sides remain divided on key issues.