US Secretary of State John Kerry has held discussions with his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov about organizing political talks between the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and opposition groups.

In a phone conversation on Saturday, Kerry and Lavrov discussed the launch of a political process in Syria for a solution to the ongoing conflict in the country.

They also talked over the potential of other countries in the Middle East to push the political process forward, Reuters reported.

According to a Russian Foreign Ministry statement, Lavrov said Moscow was stepping up its diplomatic efforts to achieve a political resolution for the Syrian conflict.

In a meeting on Friday in the Austrian capital Vienna, the two diplomats met along with Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir and Turkish Foreign Minister Feridun Sinirlioglu and discussed the Syrian crisis in a “very advanced place,” according to Kerry.

Both US and Russia agree that the Syrian conflict needs to end through a political agreement and that both sides want Syria to remain a unified country with a secular government, said Kerry on Friday.

“Russia wants to see that Daesh (ISIL) and other extremists are eliminated from the scene,” he said.

Kerry said Kremlin and Washington could reach an agreement on what he called “the resolution of the Assad problem,” even if they currently disagree on the Syrian president’s role.

The US and its regional allies, including Turkey and Saudi Arabia, have been backing militants fighting the Syrian government. Washington continues to accuse Russian President Vladimir Putin of focusing on foreign-backed groups that are fighting the government of Assad, a claim that has been repeatedly rejected by Moscow.

Russia launched its air campaign against Daesh Takfiris in Syria on September 30. The US has also been carrying out its own airstrikes in Syria, allegedly pounding Daesh positions inside the country.