A working meeting of the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Vitaly Ignatiev and the Deputy Head of Mission at the British Embassy in Moldova Amy Sherwood took place today at the Pridnestrovian Foreign Service. The meeting was also attended by Anne Jarrett, Head of the Office for Belarus, Ukraine, Moldova of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, and Caroline Steel, Program Officer of the Foundation for Conflict Settlement Promotion, Department of Eastern Europe and Central Asia, Foreign and Commonwealth Office.
During the meeting the parties exchanged views on current situation in the “5+2” settlement process between Pridnestrovie and Moldova. The Deputy Minister told about main priorities set by the Pridnestrovian party in view of settling relations with the Republic of Moldova. “British colleagues endorsed voiced initiatives to a large extent, and we gained understanding concerning evaluation of the current situation,” Vitaly Ignatiev concluded.
Participants also discussed the issues of bilateral cooperation in the social and humanitarian sphere. In particular, the British Embassy informed on the planned activities for this year and presented a number of projects to be implemented in Pridnestrovie.
The Deputy Head of Mission Amy Sherwood said that the main priority for Great Britain relating to Pridnestrovie shall be enhancement of cooperation between Pridnestrovian, Moldovan and British youth within programs in sports, culture, education and other areas. Another point is breaking negative stereotypes associated with the situation in Pridnestrovie.
“We suppose that development of relations with the United Kingdom is an important direction of our international cooperation,” Vitaly Ignatiev stressed in comments to journalists. According to him the Pridnestrovian party expressed proposal concerning invitation of British experts to T. Shevchenko Pridnestrovian State University to give lectures on issues that are pressing for Pridnestrovie. “Stephan Wolf, professor for international security at the University of Birmingham (Great Britain), is engaged in issues of guaranties while settling conflicts. I believe that we will invite this professor and hope several experts to visit us during this year. Besides we offered to arrange a British films week in Pridnestrovie,” the diplomat reported.
