Despite their agreement, the major powers are bitterly divided on who may represent the opposition as well as on the future of Assad.
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“The time is now to stop the killing in Syria and to lay the groundwork for a government the people of that battered land can support”.
Over 250,000 people have died in the Syrian civil war, which started with pro-democracy protests in 2011.
He said that IS is on the run, but will continue to be risky for some time.
He said such a ceasefire “won’t be flawless, but allows all the parties to turn on what should be our number one focus and that is destroying Islamic State militant group and its allies in the region”.
“As a effect, our view has been that you can not bring peace to Syria, you can not get an end to the civil war unless you have a government that it is recognised as legitimate by a majority of that country”.
The US and Russian initiative, unanimously approved by the UN Security Council on Friday, foresees talks between the rebels and the regime and a rapid ceasefire, perhaps even next month.
The council will meet in NY on Friday at 4pm (9pm GMT) and is expected to accept the text, which will set out a timetable for talks between the Syrian government and opposition, with a start date of early January.
It also calls upon all countries to use their good offices with the Syrian government and the Syrian opposition as well to proceed with the peace process and confidence-building measures and the steps leading to a ceasefire.
It came as US President Barack Obama, in his pre-Christmas address, said that as long as Bashar al Assad remains Syrian president, Syria can not be stable.
“We are under no illusions about obstacles that exist”, Kerry said.
“How could somebody bring together a whole people when he has massacred so many?”.
However, Davutoglu said does not provide protection for the Syrian people, who have already suffered so much during almost five years of bloodshed, from the “cruelty of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad”.
“I reiterate the readiness of the Syrian government to participate effectively on any honest effort where the Syrians will determine their choices through dialogue under Syrian leadership and not foreign intervention”, he said, adding that all countries should coordinate with his government.
Agreement on a resolution came after a meeting of the so-called International Syria Support Group at New York’s Palace Hotel. In a dig at Saudi Arabia, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif wrote in The Guardian on Friday it was “utterly absurd that those who have denied their own population the most rudimentary tenets of democracy are now self-declared champions of democracy in Syria”.
The resolution, which comes at a summit of 17 foreign ministers in NY, rubber-stamps a plan agreed on in Vienna last month that would lead to the establishment of a transitional government in Syria within six months and new elections within 18 months.
The United States, its European allies, Saudi Arabia and other Arab nations have insisted that Assad must go, though Kerry said “everyone” has by now realised that demanding Assad’s departure up front in the process was “in fact, prolonging the war”.
Another member of the Istanbul-based coalition, Samir al-Nashar, called the resolution “unrealistic and hard to implement”.
This is the only way to settle the conflict in Syria, outline a Syrian constitution and hold Syrian elections under United Nations supervision, the Egyptian top diplomat said.
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“There are reasons for optimism but, every now and then, we have to pinch ourselves and remind ourselves that there is still this huge question that divides us around the table over the future of Assad”, Mr Hammond said.
