Today, May 26, 2016, a meeting of Pridnestrovie and Moldova’s expert (working) groups on the development of transport and road facilities was held in the office of the OSCE Mission in Tiraspol.
It should be reminded that the Pridnestrovian side came forward with initiatives to hold a meeting of relevant experts on transport, since February 2016, to discuss the draft Protocol Decision previously prepared by Pridnestrovie, aimed at resolving existing problems in the field of transport. The document, based on international recommendations and the previously reached agreements, provides for a list of measures aimed at ensuring the participation of private vehicles registered in the PMR in international traffic, developing international passenger and cargo transportation of Pridnestrovie, as well as opening the bridge across the river Dniester near villages Bychok and Gura-Bykului.
During the meeting, the Pridnestrovian representatives proposed to focus on a detailed discussion point by point of the mentioned draft Protocol Decision in order to agree on and sign subsequently.
However, members of the working group from the Republic of Moldova refused to forge ahead, putting forward obviously impossible demands and conditions that are contrary to the previously reached agreements and relevant international standards, as well as that are technically and economically unrealizable in nature. In fact, the Moldovan side tried to replace a substantive dialogue on resolving the problems accumulated in the transport sector with ultimatums prepared “in haste” that deliberately blocked any possibility for a compromise work.
The sides agreed to continue consultations at the domestic level in order to explore possibilities of converging positions.
The Pridnestrovian representatives in the conditions of Moldova’s unjustified refusal of the substantive work called on the representatives of international participants in the 5+2 format, attending the meeting, to examine the possibility of suspending the ban on admission of vehicles registered in Pridnestrovie to their countries, for the period of the ongoing dialogue between Pridnestrovie and Moldova. Particular emphasis was placed on the states of the European Union, as the countries of the Commonwealth of Independent States, which are also Contracting Parties to the Vienna Convention on Road Traffic, did not imposed any restrictive measures on the Pridnestrovian transport at the moment.
