Today, the expanded session of the Pridnestrovian Foreign Ministry Collegium was held in the small hall of the Dvorets Respubliki (State Cultural Center), arranged to coincide with the Day of the Worker of Diplomatic Service of Pridnestrovie. The event was attended by President of the PMR Yevgeny Shevchuk, Chairperson of the Government of the PMR Pavel Prokudin, Chairpersons of the Constitutional, Arbitration, Supreme Courts, heads of executive body of state authority, representatives of public organizations.
Head of the Foreign Ministry Vitaly Ignatiev made a report on the activity of the PMR’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 2015. According to him, during the year the Pridnestrovian diplomacy worked in extremely difficult conditions due to the compound of at once several problematic global and regional factors. The diplomat pointed out that the country actually came under massive external attack with the use of hybrid methods of influence, including the use of a whole range of pressure measures covering both national level, as well as humanitarian and legal human dimension.
However, according to the Head of the MFA of the PMR, the republic did not deviate from the strategic course towards independence elected by the people, and the Pridnestrovian diplomacy largely managed to achieve concrete positive results “not because of, but in spite of”.
“High dynamics of contacts with international partners both in the East and West confirms that today the Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic acts as a respected member of any dialogue. External players listen to the Pridnestrovian side’s view, since practice shows that ignoring position of Pridnestrovie will eventually lead to a dead end and will require accelerated correction of mistakes,”- said the head of the Foreign Ministry.
In this context, Vitaly Ignatyev also expressed hope that this year the German chairmanship in the OSCE will make every possible effort to intensify Pridnestrovie and Moldova’s dialogue, that will allow “to move away from the paradigm of pressure on one of the negotiating parties and to create conditions for full-fledged and genuinely equal and mutually respectful dialogue on all levels of the “5+2” format. “The Pridnestrovian side is traditionally oriented towards the dialogue with the representatives of the Republic of Moldova, it has never avoided the meetings, worked proactively with a focus on the result,” - he said.
Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Igor Shornikov focused his speech on activities on information and image direction of the MFA of the PMR, as well as in the field of public diplomacy, informed the participants about the work carried out on the organization of a number of socially significant actions and international forums, both within the state and abroad.
“These activities have contributed to the dissemination of objective information about our country, formed the image of Pridnestrovie as an integral part of the Russian world,” – summed up Igor Shornikov.
Some areas of foreign policy department activities were raised in the report of Deputy Foreign Minister Dmitry Palamarchuk. In particular, the diplomat noted that Pridnestrovie continued its close cooperation in 2015 with the fraternal countries -Abkhazia, South Ossetia, and Nagorno-Karabakh Republic in line with the expansion of mutual trade, the contacts in the scientific, cultural and youth areas.
The Deputy Foreign Minister paid special attention to the issue of peacekeeping and security, noting the important nature of this component of the work of the ministry.
“Due to the existing level of cooperation both through the MFA of the PMR with the Pridnestrovian delegation to the JCC, and between the Pridnestrovian and Russian delegations to the JCC we were able to ensure the controllability and stability of the situation in the Security Zone. The number of incidents in 2015 as compared to the year 2014 decreased from 50 to 14,”- stressed the Pridnestrovian diplomat.
During the event Chairperson of the Government of the PMR Pavel Prokudin expressed congratulations to the PMR Foreign Ministry’s employees. He noted that “today, the Foreign Ministry does the diplomatic service with honour”.
President of the PMR Yevgeny Shevchuk in his speech highly appreciated the effectiveness of the activities of the PMR Foreign Ministry during the reporting period. “For achievements in the development of mutually beneficial relations between the Russian Federation and the Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic, for the establishment and strengthening of cooperation with international partners”, the head of state awarded the PMR’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs with the Order “For Merit” II Class.
During the session Pridnestrovian diplomats also received congratulations from high guests - Head of the Consular Department of the Embassy of the Russian Federation Vladimir Malyshev, Plenipotentiary Representative of the Republic of Abkhazia in the PMR Alexander Vataman, Head of the Official Representative Office of the Republic of South Ossetia in the PMR Sergei Surago.
At the end of the event Foreign Ministry’s officials conferred diplomatic ranks for the first time took the oath. Also the representatives of state, public and educational organizations who actively participated in the implementation of foreign policy activities and provided activities that contributed to the formation of a positive image of the Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic received awards of the PMR's MFA.
