December 15, 2005 – a regular round of the Pridnestrovien settlement negotiations started. Political representatives from Pridnestrovie, Moldova, the Russian Federation, Ukraine, and the OSCE took part in the meeting of the Permanent Conference on Political Issues. The US and EU representatives attended as observers. The meeting continued on December 16 in the OSCE Mission Office in Chisinau. The meeting resulted in signing a protocol.



PROTOCOL

of the meeting of the “Permanent Conference on Political Issues
within the Framework of the Negotiating Process
on the Pridnestrovien Settlement”
(Tiraspol-Chisinau, 15-16 December 2005)



1. The OSCE Mission shall draft a Mandate for operation of the OSCE International Assessment Mission in Pridnestrovie to analyze the situation and elaborate recommendations for holding free and democratic elections to the Pridnestrovien Supreme Soviet in the context of the initiative of Ukrainian President V. Yushchenko and shall submit it for consideration during the next round of Pridnestrovien settlement negotiations. The participants of the meeting have expressed their willingness to consider such a draft.

 
2. The participants of the meeting have noted that the Republic of Moldova submitted by 1 December 2005 information on its military formations and armaments as envisaged in Protocol A-1 of the draft package “Arms Control – Confidence and Security Building Measures in Moldova” proposed to the sides by the mediators in July 2005, but Pridnestrovie submitted a letter with succinct information on the number of its troops and military equipment. The participants of the meeting have also appealed to the Russian Federation to provide guidelines to Pridnestrovie in compiling by 25 January 2006 information on military units and armaments as envisaged in Protocol A-1 of the abovementioned package.

 
3. The participants of the meeting have taken note of the sides’ appeal to the OSCE Chairman-in-Office to send, as soon as possible, a mission to conduct monitoring of enterprises of the Pridnestrovien military-industrial complex taking into account agreements embodied in the Protocol of the meeting of the “Permanent Conference on Political Issues within the Framework of the Negotiating Process on the Pridnestrovien Settlement” on 27-28 October 2005. The draft document envisaging regulations for operation of the Monitoring Mission shall be submitted to the sides by the OSCE Mission to Moldova by 20 January 2006.

 
4. The participants of the meeting have noted the need to normalize the situation in the Security Zone; the mediators and observers have recommended the relevant departments of the sides to take measures in order to implement by 25 January 2006 proposals set forth by the OSCE Mission to Moldova in the Annex to this Protocol, and have expressed willingness to assist in their implementation. Progress in implementing the abovementioned proposals shall be reviewed at the next negotiating round.

 
5. The sides and the mediators have agreed to hold the next meeting of the “Permanent Conference” with participation of the EU and US representatives as observers on 26-27 January 2006 in Tiraspol and Chisinau.

 

For the Republic of Moldova                                                                          For Pridnestrovie

 For the OSCE                                     For the Russian Federation                              For Ukraine