The parties signed Protocol Decision on cooperation in the field of veterinary, quarantine and plant protection
The first meeting in 2018 of political representatives from Pridnestrovie and the Republic of Moldova Vitaly Ignatiev and Kristina Lesnik took place in the OSCE Mission office in Kishinev.
The interlocutors touched upon a wide range of issues related to the current situation in the dialogue between Pridnestrovie and Moldova. The parties, in particular, exchanged views on implementation of bilateral agreements reached in November last year, as well as the protocol following the “Permanent Conference” meeting in Vienna on November 27-28, 2017.
With regard to implementation of protocol decisions in the field of education, Vitaly Ignatiev commended efforts of the Moldovan side aimed at practical work on the apostillization mechanism for higher education diplomas issued in Pridnestrovie. The diplomat expressed hope that in the near future all technical aspects would be settled, which would allow the Pridnestrovian graduates to fully exercise their right to work and continue their studies abroad. The Foreign Minister informed the Moldovan representatives that Pridnestrovie had completely ensured operation of the Protocol Decision on functioning of Moldovan Latin-script schools in the territory of the PMR.
The implementation process of the agreement on land use in the Dubossary district of the PMR was also discussed. As Vitaly Ignatiev noted talking to mass media after the meeting, settlement of this issue is at the final stage and to date only a few aspects requires compromise approaches from both sides.
“Today, I have voiced a request of our land users to the Moldovan side for an opportunity to harvest the future crop from already sown land in order for the process of agreement implementation to be as painless as possible and not associated with additional difficulties and problems, including financial and humanitarian,” – the Head of the PMR MFA noted.
Commenting on results of the meeting, the diplomat drew attention to the fact that the Pridnestrovian side had identified the need for systematic work on the problems of politically motivated criminal cases, as well as of a full-fledged freight railway communication through the territory of Pridnestrovie. According to him, political representatives reached consensus on resumption of two expert (working) subgroups on issues of interbank cooperation and human rights.
In the framework of the discussion, the Pridnestrovian side paid special attention to the mechanism for participation of Pridnestrovian motor transport in international road traffic. As Vitaly Ignatiev noted, despite the fact that the relevant decision should be reached until March 1 this year, there is a gap between positions of the parties on a number of issues. In this context, according to the Foreign Minister, it seems reasonable to involve political representatives, as well as international partners, in the ongoing expert work.
“We have agreed with Ms. Lesnik that we will hold the next meeting on February 21 together with experts in order to give the dialogue an additional impetus and help technical specialists to come to a ‘common denominator’. We have also discussed possibility of appealing to international partners – participants in the 5+2 format in order to involve them in the work in this direction. Until March 1, we need to reach a concrete agreement, and I hope we will be able to use all resources to solve this most important humanitarian problem,” – he stressed.
At the end of the meeting, Vitaly Ignatiev and Kristina Lesnik signed a Protocol Decision on cooperation in the field of veterinary, quarantine and plant protection, previously agreed at the level of relevant experts. As the Head of the PMR MFA noted, the reached agreement allows to establish transparent and effective cooperation of the parties in the field of veterinary and phytosanitary control, which is of great significance not only for Pridnestrovie and Moldova, but also for neighboring states and European Union countries.
“Interaction in the issues of veterinary and phytosanitary control for a long time has been carried out by the parties in ad hoc mode, from case to case. At the same time, outbreaks of diseases requiring quarantine measures regularly occur in the territory of neighboring countries, and this creates serious problems. In fact, today we have formalized this interaction and created additional agreed grounds for this, and we hope to see this interaction even more effective. We are interested in food safety, safety of our residents,” – Vitaly Ignatiev emphasized.
