06/06/14
During the final briefing after the meeting of the Permanent Conference held these days in the Austrian capital, Nina Shtanski answered questions from Pridnestrovian and foreign media.Representatives of the media community were interested in a wide range of issues related to the outcome of the last round of negotiations or affecting various aspects of relations between Moldova and Pridnestrovie as a whole.Answering about the risks in connection with the forthcoming signing of the Association Agreement between Moldova and the EU the political representative of Pridnestrovie, Nina Shtanski noted the following: “We expect that the forthcoming signing of the Association Agreement and, in particular, specifically DCFTA, may extremely negatively affect our relations with the Republic of Moldova, as this process completely ignores the fact of the unsettled conflict and does not take into account that a large number of economic problems existing between us have not still been solved.” She recalled that the Pridnestrovian side took a number of political and diplomatic efforts, the informational work was conducted as well allowing this dialogue “not to expedite and torpedo at least.” The head of the Pridnestrovian diplomacy expressed understanding that the neighboring state “independently resolves issues of reformatting its trade space,” but the risks associated with its choice, she said, will inevitably have an impact on the development of the Pridnestrovian economy. “I hope that all the participants in the negotiations will have enough patience and efforts to prevent the Pridnestrovian economy from bigger blow and a new blockade, than it is now,” - hoped the minister. She also reminded about one of the most important principles of the negotiation process - the inadmissibility of taking any actions that may aggravate the situation of one of the parties - and expressed the wish that its performance remained immutable for all the participants in the negotiations.Commenting on the situation regarding the use of the Pridnestrovian land by Moldovan farmers, the head of the Pridnestrovian diplomacy called that the main reason impeding to find a final solution is the lack of direct and sufficiently intense dialogue. By the way, the latter is most often initiated by the Pridnestrovian side, but Moldova shows the lack of activity that raises fair questions in Pridnestrovie. At the same time, said Nina Shtanski, the Pridnestrovian side independently, as a gesture of goodwill, created the necessary conditions for farmers not to remain hostages of this complex situation: the Government of Pridnestrovie has decided to extend preferential treatment for conscientious farmers and create the opportunities for other farmers - to work on the basis of the provisions of the Pridnestrovian legislation. These measures brought results - 83 Moldovan farmers have already applied and worked on the Pridnestrovian land as well as Pridnestrovian farmers, i.e. without any discrimination. However, as the political representative of Pridnestrovie noted, according to available information for the Pridnestrovian side, Moldovan authorities directly prohibit Moldovan farmers to enter into legal relations with Pridnestrovian authorities, including the local authority in the Dubossary District. “Today we were informed that Moldova is ready to pay compensation to these farmers, may be it is the consensus, in view of the Moldovan side,” – noted with regret assessing the actions of the Moldovan side.Besides, said Nina Shtanski, the Pridnestrovian side focused attention also on the problems, faced by Pridnestrovian farmers. “Today, Pridnestrovian farmers in Kremenchug can not cultivate all their lands due to the fact that they are simply detained by Moldovan police in Kopanca. There are incidents that for some reason the Moldovan side calls isolated and does not consider it necessary to pay due attention to them. The criminal case was brought against a Pridnestrovian farmer, his property, the automobile, the chemicals which he had to cultivate his land were taken away. So, as you see, the problem is multifold, very sharp,”- said the Minister. She expressed her willingness to continue the joint dialogue on this issue in order to find concrete solutions.The issue of renewing the passenger rail service through the territory of Pridnestrovie to Kishinev - St. Petersburg direction in the coming year, Nina Shtanski called very relevant. The political representative stressed the need for a rapid making decision on this matter, which, according to her, will reduce the time of movement of passengers in trains and therefore the cost of tickets. “We are confident that if the train “Kishinev - Saint Petersburg” will also go through Pridnestrovie, not only through the north of Moldova, the occupancy rate will be fine, because today the residents of such Pridnestrovian cities as Tiraspol, Bendery are forced to use the trains in Ukraine, leave from Odessa, because the route proposed by Moldova increases run to St. Petersburg for eight hours, and accordingly, the ticket is very expensive”- she said. Besides, the delay in resolving the issue of renewing of passengers rail traffic through Pridnestrovie, can lead to the fact that in 2015 this route will not be possible to include in the schedule of the CIS countries routes. Nina Shtanski said that such possible outcome of events is annoying and called the Moldovan side to step in resolving this issue.Explaining the position of the Pridnestrovian side to journalists about the impact of the crisis in Ukraine on the republic, the political representative stressed that it is not about specific decisions taking against Pridnestrovie but about the negative consequences that this inner political crisis poses to neighboring territories. “When we talk about the impact of the Ukrainian crisis on the Pridnestrovian economy, we do not have in mind any special decisions made by Ukraine. We are referring to the tragedy that is happening and that will certainly affect the economic development in Ukraine itself. Many Pridnestrovian enterprises depend on it because for some businesses the Ukrainian market represents up to 40% of the sale market, and today we have some decline,”- she said. The negative impact of the crisis in the neighboring country affects also the tax revenue in the Pridnestrovian budget: Ukrainian contracting parties not always can pay for the products received from Pridnestrovie, moreover, a number of million dollars contracts have already been broken. “There is a problem also with the transportation of freights through Ukraine. Moldovan carriers which we depend on, in fact, refuse to transport today,”- added Nina Shtanski.The head of the foreign office of Pridnestrovie noted: the situation in Ukraine creates a new economic problem which at the same time, forces the parties “to unite and create maximum opportunities for economic agents that compensate complexities and losses arised in connection with the situation in Ukraine.” Answering the question about the reasons of inadequate frequency of the meetings between the political representatives Nina Shtanski expressed the readiness to intensify the meetings up to the weekly mode. She noted that the Pridnestrovian side had never refused a meeting with the Moldovan side for two and a half years, no matter how difficult was the current situation in the negotiations. “To maintain the dialogue is our main task, as political representatives,” - said the minister. “The Pridnestrovian delegation is ready to meet at any time, without any conditions,” - added the diplomat.
