Syria's government and opposition have agreed to meet in the same room for talks, after the first peace negotiations between the two sides came close to collapse.
Mediator Lakhdar Brahimi made the announcement after holding separate meetings with government and opposition delegations in Geneva.
"The discussions I had with the two parties were encouraging," Mr Brahimi said. Negotiations would be held on Saturday and based on a June 2012 statement by world powers that called for the two sides to agree on the establishment of the transitional body.
Syria's first peace talks had earlier came close to failing before they began with the opposition refusing to meet President Bashar al-Assad's delegation and the government threatening to bring its team home.
Direct talks scheduled for Friday - meant to be the first time in three years of war the two sides would negotiate face to face - had been ditched at the last minute.
Syria's civil war has killed at least 130,000 people, driven up to a third of the country's 22 million people from their homes and made half dependent on aid, including hundreds of thousands cut off by fighting.
Islamist militants who control most rebel-held territory are boycotting the talks and say anyone attending negotiations that fail to bring down Mr Assad would be traitors, Reuters reports.
The Syrian president's main regional backer, Iran, is also not represented at the Geneva talks. UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon invited Tehran at the last minute, but then withdrew the invitation 24 hours later when it refused to endorse the Geneva 1 protocol.
Syria's three-year civil war has devastated the northern city of Aleppo. Photo: AFP
