The PMR’s MFA hosted a meeting between Acting Minister of Foreign Affairs Vitaly Ignatiev and delegation of the Austrian Republic headed by the Head of Department for Management, Federal Minister for Europe, Integration and Foreign Affairs, Michael Zimmermann. The meeting also was attended by the Head of Austrian Development Agency Gerhard Schaumberger.
In his welcoming speech Vitaly Ignatiev emphasized that the Pridnestrovian side highly appreciated an opportunity to exchange opinions with Austria’s representatives, particularly in the context of upcoming 2017 Austrian OSCE Chairmanship. “We consider Austria one of significant partners of Pridnestrovie and reckon on positive contribution into the Moldovan-Pridnestrovian settlement process” – the diplomat noted.
In his turn Michael Zimmermann informed that Austria was actively preparing for the upcoming OSCE chairmanship, the programme of which would be presented in the nearest future. The interlocutor also noted that since the last time of the country’s chairmanship in the OSCE in 2000, the situation in the Moldovan-Pridnestrovian settlement had not shown positive trends. Vitaly Ignatiev in this regard confirmed that the dialogue between the parties had seriously degraded in recent years, and long-standing problems in the relations of Pridnestrovie and Moldova were supplemented by new restrictive measures applied unilaterally by the Moldovan side, including with the participation of Ukraine.
The Foreign Minister reminded that a whole range of unfriendly steps had been taken against Pridnestrovie since 2014. They regard politically motivated criminal prosecution of Pridnestrovians by the Republic of Moldova, restriction of free movement of citizens and vehicles, ban on crossing the Ukrainian border for Russian citizens residing in Pridnestrovie. Vitaly Ignatiev also informed about problems caused by the fact that Moldova and Ukraine unilaterally changed the scheme of imports railway delivery to Pridnestrovie, about a restriction on passing of excisable goods through the checkpoints on the Pridnestrovian-Ukrainian border, as well as about some other restriction measures implemented by neighbouring countries. In this context, the diplomat stressed out that plans of Moldova and Ukraine to set joint customs and border control at the Kuchurgan checkpoint presented a particular danger to the socio-economic situation in the republic, as well as to the stability of the entire negotiating process. According to the Head of the PMR’s MFA, this decision will not only lead to a significant deterioration of Pridnestrovians’ living standards, but can also seriously destabilize the situation in the entire region.
In opinion of the Acting Minister of Foreign Affairs of the PMR, in these circumstances the negotiation process is an important international instrument to normalize the situation in many areas. Vitaly Ignatiev highly assessed results of the latest Berlin meeting of the “Permanent Conference...” in the 5+2 format held on June 2-3, saying that the Protocol of the meeting reflected joint opinion of international participants on the need for intensive, meaningful and substantive work to resolve a number of sensitive problems. According to the Foreign Minister of the PMR, Pridnestrovie has already submitted comprehensive draft agreements for every area mentioned in the Protocol, many of which the Moldovan side has left without a specific well-reasoned position for several months.
In continuation of the conversation, the sides discussed some aspects of bilateral interaction of Pridnestrovie and Austria in the social and humanitarian spheres and in the field of ecology, in particular in the context of possible implementation of a number of joint projects.
The sides agreed to maintain contact on issues of mutual interest.
