On February, 11 the meeting was held between the Vice-president of PMR Alexander Koroliov and the delegation of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly. The delegation headed by the President of the OSCE PA Joao Soares included the Head of the second committee of the OSCE PA Petros Eftimiou, the Head of the Greece delegation to the OSCE PA Panayotis Skandalakis, Secretary General of the OSCE PA Oliver Spenser, and the Head of OSCE Mission to Moldova Philip Remler. The Pridnestrovien side was represented by Deputies Minister of Foreign Affairs Alexander Maliarchuk and Sergey Simonenko, Deputy Minister of Economics Alevtina Slinchenko, Deputy Chairman of the State Customs Committee of PMR Gennadiy Stepankin, Director of Pridnestrovien railway system Sergey Martsinko.
The purpose of OSCE Parliamentary Delegation visit to PMR was to study the current situation of the negotiation process between Moldova and Pridnestrovie and to search methods of assistance from OSCE PA side in the settlement of Moldova-Pridnestrovie relations.
During the meeting Joao Soares told about the OSCE activities in conflict zones and in particular about their measures to stabilize the situation in South Ossetia after the war in August 2008. Taking into consideration this sad experience of the Georgia-Ossetian conflict, the head of Delegation urged to pay attention on the positive moments in the relations between Moldova and Pridnestrovie. Among them Joao Soares mentioned absence of any possibility of a military conflict and presence of certain contacts between Moldova and Pridnestrovie.
According to Alexander Koroliov, the absence of a military opposition in the region is a result of the agreement of 1992 in accordance to which the peace in the region is secured by the presence of peacekeeping forces. Since that time a certain balance of state interests of Moldova and Pridnestrovie has been established. For a final settlement it is enough to legalize this balance. Here the Vice-President referred to the situation in Czechia and Slovakia: the problem was solved there after the referendum had been carried out. The same referendum had already taken place in Pridnestrovie. It cannot be denied that such referendum carried out in Moldova would reveal the assent of the voters to Pridnestrovien independence thus bringing conflict to an end. The PMR Vice-president also paid attention to the fact that many agreements had been signed during the negotiation process with Moldova but Kishinev ignores and doesn't carry out documents including those signed with the assistance of the countries-guarantors and the OSCE.
During the meeting, issues related to the efficiency of confidence-building measures between Pridnestrovie and Moldova were discussed. In particular, the question of the activity of working groups aimed at solving current problems in the in the field of economics, industry, ecology, and humanitarian sphere, was touched upon. According to Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Sergey Simonenko, the difference in approaches and goals which both sides are aspiring to reach during the activity of working groups caused a number of difficulties. The status of working groups of experts has not been defined yet. Till now there are no regulations of their work and there is no clear understanding of what should be put on the agenda of their meetings.
In the course of discussion the OSCE PA Delegation touched upon an issue concerning the participation of the Pridnestrovien electorate with Moldovan citizenship in the forthcoming in April Moldovan parliamentary elections. Alexander Koroliov confirmed Tiraspol wouldn't create any obstacles for the Moldovan citizens who want to take part in the parliamentary elections. Answering the question about the possibility of Moldovan political parties to conduct the pre-election campaign on the territory of PMR, the Vice-President pointed out that such questions are solved in the Central Selective Commission of Pridnestrovie. For the present moment the SCS has received applications neither from Moldovan authorities nor from Moldovan political parties. “In case such applications come from Moldova the CSC will consider them in accordance with Pridnestrovien legislation “, assured Alexander Koroliov.
The participants discussed also some other aspects of Moldova-Pridnestrovie settlement.
The PMR Vice-President expressed gratitude to the OSCE PA Delegation for visiting republic. The President of the OSCE PA Joao Soares expressed satisfaction with the meaningful and constructive dialogue which had taken place between the sides.
