The sides continued to discuss the so-called “railway issue”, as well as a number of other topical issues on the agenda.
The meeting of representatives on political issues from Pridnestrvoie and Moldova Nina Shtanski and Victor Osipov took place in the office of the OSCE Mission in Kishinev today. Taking part in the meeting were representatives of the railways of Pridnestrovie and Moldova, and the State Customs Committee of the PMR.
The sides continued to discuss the issue related to the unilateral change made by Moldova and Ukraine to the technological scheme of rail traffic through the territory of Pridnestrovie on the road section “Slobodka-Rybnitsa”. Nina Shtanski said that the sides managed to consider various aspects of the problem, in particular, to clarify the reasons and motives of the actions undertaken by the Railway of Moldova.
“The Pridnestrovian side noted the deterioration in the situation of economic actors who used the mechanisms worked out in 2012 (note: projected losses from changes in the technological scheme of rail traffic until the end of 2015 amount to about 2 million USD). We also noted a violation of at least three provisions of the Protocol Decision signed at the time by the leadership of the parties and renewed annually. Now, unfortunately, this mechanism is broken”, - said the diplomat. “We do not aim to find the guilty party, but consequences are obvious for us: Pridnestrovian enterprises have already suffered losses of hundreds of thousands of dollars. If we cannot go back to the “zero option”, that is, to the normal functioning of the protocol decision, the cooperation itself in this field will be under threat. We have the impression that the Moldovan partners are ready to prevent the failure of this mechanism,”- she explained. According to the political representative of Pridnestrovie, the Moldovan side is ready to consider the possibility of revocation of the actions resulting in the change to the scheme approved in 2012 of freight rail traffic through Pridnestrovie. She told about the assurances voiced by the Moldovan side that the RM would consider the possibility of revocation of “those actions and those telegrams that were given by the Moldovan railway to the Ukrainian railway to ensure that the station-export “Slobodka” works in the previous way”.
For reference: Since August this year, a number of Pridnestrovian enterprises have faced with the ban of the regional railways of Ukraine on the unloading of goods imported by them on the station “Slobodka-export”. The ban was introduced by the Ukrainian side in connection with the respective telegrams of the Railway of Moldova. The scheme of goods traffic introduced unilaterally and without agreeing with Pridnestrovie excludes the participation of the rolling stock of the state unitary enterprise “Pridnestrovian Railway”, leads to an increase in tariffs for cargo transportation and demurrage entailing considerable financial costs for a number of enterprises located in the north of the PMR. Pridnestrovie has repeatedly stated that the change in the previously established scheme is a flagrant violation of the provisions of the Protocol Decision “On the principles of resumption of a full-scale freight railway communication through the territory of Pridnestrovie” dated 30 March 2012.
The meeting separately addressed the issue of politically motivated criminal cases initiated in Moldova against the representatives of authorities of Pridnestrovie, in particular, in the context of the detention of a representative of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the PMR made in Greece. “The Pridnestrovian militiaman has remained in custody in the territory of the Hellenic Republic, moreover, he is in the same cell with the elements of the criminal world which contradicts the principles of humanity and the global practice. We also know that he needs medical assistance. We called our Moldovan partners to join in a speedy resolution of this problem - the Moldovan side has not yet passed documents required for his extradition. Today, we are assured that such documents are ready and in the next few days they will be sent to Greece,”- said Nina Shtanski.
During the meeting the sides also touched upon the issue of the use of the agricultural land in the Dubossary District of the PMR by Moldovan farmers.
The Moldavian side suggested that there is a need to return to the mechanism of 2006 instead of continuing the work on the development of a new, updated and optimized mechanism which has been already agreed upon a large number of the provisions”, - said Nina Shtanski after the meeting. In this regard the diplomat reminded that the Moldovan side at the time had confirmed the ineffectiveness of the mechanism of 2006 - the corresponding protocol had been signed by experts from both sides, and that was the starting point for the discussion of the new document. “Both Pridnestrovian and more than a hundred of Moldovan farmers work in this region now. The severity of the issue has been significantly mitigated by the structural decisions taken by the Government of Pridnestrovie, allowing the Moldovan farmers to continue to work, despite the fact that a solution has not been yet found during the negotiations”, - noted the minister. According to her, the sides agreed to continue the work of relevant experts on the basis of the developments that already exist. “It is out of the question for our part to return to the mechanism of 2006”, - stated Nina Shtanski.
The next meeting of the representatives on political issues in the “1+1” format is scheduled for September 10, 2015 in Tiraspol.
