Informal visit of delegations from the Kingdom of Sweden and the Republic of Poland to Pridnestrovie took place today. The delegations were headed by Foreign Ministers of these countries Carl Bildt and Radoslaw Sikorski. Ingrid Tersman, the Ambassador of the Kingdom of Sweden to the Republic of Moldova, and Artur Michalski, the Ambassador of the Republic of Poland to the Republic of Moldova.
Distinguished guests were hosted by the Head of the Public Administration of Bendery city Yuriy Gervazyuk and Deputy Ministers of Foreign Affairs of the PMR Vitaly Ignatiev and Igor Shornikov. Informal visit included attendance of the Military Historical Memorial Complex and the Historical Archaeological Complex “Bendery Fortress”.
Such visits are not common to our Republic. Pridnestrovie was earlier visited jointly only by Foreign Ministers of Abkhazia and South Ossetia. Pridnestrovie was visited at different times by Foreign Ministers of Kazakhstan, Lithuania, Ireland and Ukraine. But they came as the OSCE Chairpersons-in-Office.
According to the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of the PMR Vitaly Ignatiev, the visit was aimed at the direct acknowledgment with Pridnestrovie without intermediaries. “Distinguished guests have expressed a desire to visit Bendery Fortress which is a part of the European cultural heritage,” he said. The diplomat said that such visits shall be a good practice for Pridnestrovie. “It is cultural diplomacy in action. We will be glad if such delegation will visit the Republic, get acquainted with its history and learn directly about the current situation,” he concluded.
During the visit the guests laid flowers on the memorial slab in honour of soldiers and officers of the King Charles's ХII army and to the central cross erected in memory of all buried warriors. The delegations visited also chapel and museum of the 55-th Podolsk Infantry Regiment.
After the journey to the Bendery Fortress guests saw the exhibition of the Swedish Royal Armoury dedicated to the 300-th anniversary of presence of Charles XII of Sweden in Bendery.
Foreign Ministers of two states were impressed by Pridnestrovians' attitude towards preservation of their cultural heritage and performed restoration of historical monuments.
