Former UN chief Kofi Annan and Syrian President Bashar Assad met for the second time on Sunday, a day before a meeting for the United Nations Security Council.

Former UN chief Kofi Annan and Syrian President Bashar Assad met for the second time on Sunday, a day before a session for the United Nations Security Council.

Annan said he handed over a set of "concrete proposals" aimed at halting the Syrian crisis.
"I presented a set of concrete proposals which would have a real impact on the situation on the ground and which will help launch a process aimed at putting an end to this crisis," the UN-Arab League envoy told reporters.

"The realistic response is to embrace change and reforms," he told reporters after the Damascus meeting.

Assad said on their first meeting on Saturday he would back any "honest" bid to end the violence, but warned dialogue would fail if "terrorist groups" remained.

A meeting that will bring together foreign ministers of the main Security Council member states will take place on Monday.

Meanwhile, Diplomats at the United Nations in New York expressed pessimism about the prospects for Annan's peace mission.
"Kofi Annan's meeting in Damascus seems to have gone nowhere," said one senior envoy from a Security Council member.

"Assad is determined not to give in and the divide is growing between Russia and the Western countries," the envoy said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Talks on a new US-led attempt to agree a resolution have hit a dead end, although US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov will meet on the sidelines of Monday's meeting in New York.