TIRASPOL, 26 January 2006 – a regular round of the Pridnestrovien settlement negotiations has started. Political representatives from Pridnestrovie, Moldova, the Russian Federation, Ukraine, and the OSCE have taken part in the meeting of the “Permanent Conference on Political Issues within the Framework of the Negotiating Process on the Pridnestrovien Settlement”. The US and EU representatives have attended as observers.
The meeting continued on January 27 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, 26-27 January 2006)
1. The participants of the meeting have heard the information presented by Ukrainian and Pridnestrovien representatives and discussed questions related to implementation of the December 30, 2005 Joint Statement of the Prime-Ministers of Ukraine and the Republic of Moldova on unification of customs procedures on the Ukrainian-Moldovan state border, and have taken into account the Ukrainian initiative envisaging, beginning from 31 January 2006, Ukrainian-Moldovan expert consultations to be held in Odessa, with participation of Pridnestrovien experts and economic agents, to discuss questions related to implementation of the statement.
2. The participants of the meeting have welcomed the work of the OSCE Mission to Moldova and taken into consideration a draft mandate of the OSCE international assessment mission to Pridnestrovie to analyze the situation and elaborate recommendations for holding free and democratic elections to the Pridnestrovien Supreme Soviet in the context of initiatives of Ukrainian President V. Yushchenko.
3. The participants of the meeting have welcomed readiness of the Pridnestrovien side to hold consultations with participation of experts from Ukraine, the Russian Federation, and the OSCE on the issues of exchange of information between the Republic of Moldova and Pridnestrovie on their military formations and armaments as envisaged in Protocol A-1 of the draft package “Arms Control – Confidence and Security Building Measures in Moldova”.
4. The participants of the meeting have noted that, in pursuance of the December 16, 2005 Protocol, on 20 January 2006 the OSCE Mission to Moldova handed over a draft protocol on monitoring facilities of the Pridnestrovien military-industrial complex, and have expressed willingness to continue the expert work on the proposed draft and on the subject as a whole.
5. The participants of the meeting have appreciated proposals “Joint Working Group – Composition and Mission” developed by the OSCE Mission and submitted to the sides on 24 January 2006. Mediators and observers have called upon the sides to implement paragraph 2 “Interim Measures” of the draft document by 15 February 2006 as a significant element for resumption of the JCC regular work and will assist as much as possible in that. The participants of the meeting believe that a number of issues can be resolved in the framework of experts groups of the sides and have proposed the sides to consider formation of such groups.
6. The sides and mediators have agreed to hold the next meeting of the “Permanent Conference” with participation of the EU and US representatives as observers on 27-28 February 2006 in Tiraspol and Chisinau.
For the Republic of Moldova For Pridnestrovie
For the OSCE For the Russian Federation For Ukraine
Special opinion
of the Political Representative from Pridnestrovie
to paragraph 1 of the Protocol of the meeting of the “Permanent Conference
on Political Issues within the Framework of the Negotiating Process
on the Pridnestrovien Settlement”
(Tiraspol-Chisinau, 26-27 January 2006)
The Pridnestrovien side aims to take part in consultations in Odessa with participation of plenipotentiaries from Ukraine, the Republic of Moldova, and Pridnestrovie, as well as other parties concerned, to work out a sustainable international legal mechanism for carrying out certain aspects of foreign economic activity of Pridnestrovie in the context of the May 8, 1997 Memorandum on the Bases for Normalization of Relations between the Republic of Moldova and Pridnestrovie.
Statement
of observers at the meeting of the “Permanent Conference
on Political Issues within the Framework of the Negotiating Process
on the Pridnestrovien Settlement”
(Tiraspol-Chisinau, 26-27 January 2006)
The EU and US observers at the meeting of the “Permanent Conference on Political Issues within the Framework of the Negotiating Process on the Pridnestrovien Settlement” have supported the Protocol of the meeting signed in Chisinau on
27 January.
For the European Union For the United States of America