Representatives of Syrian opposition groups will meet in Italy on Dec. 17-18 to build cooperation and discuss ways to end the Syrian conflict, a visiting opposition member said Thursday.

The Rome conference will bring together 30 members from different opposition groups, Haytham Manaa, a member of Syria's National Coordination Committee for Democratic Changes (NCC) told reporters before his meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.

Earlier in the day, another senior member of the NCC, Hassan Abdel Azim, told local media the committee had long sought to unite internal and external opposition forces.

During the meeting between Lavrov and the opposition delegation, both sides agreed there was no alternative to a peaceful settlement in Syria, Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

After the discussion, "a unanimous opinion was expressed about the absence of an alternative toward a peaceful settlement, which would be acceptable for Syrians as well as from the point of view of regional and international security interests," said the statement.

Russia called for an immediate start of the peaceful settlement based on the Geneva agreement and through various forms of dialogues which could help form a common political platform for solving the problem, according to the statement.

Abdel Azim urged Moscow to play "a bigger role" in seeking solutions to the crisis and stressed that the country's future should be decided by all and only Syrians without foreign interference, Interfax news agency quoted him as saying.

The NCC wanted all relevant parties, including members of the UN Security Council, the Arab League and major powers like Russia to overcome differences and reach consensus, thereby ending the violence in Syria and implement the Geneva communique and a settlement plan proposed by UN-AL envoy Lakhdar Brahimi, Abdel Azim said.