Today the acting Foreign Minister of PMR Alexander Malarchuk has carried out briefing for foreign and Pridnestrovien media representatives in Tiraspol.
He informed journalists that on February, 16 the Pridnestrovien side gave a response to the propositions of Kishinev on the political settlement on the Dniester. (It should be reminded that on December, 24 2008 the President of Moldova Vladimir Voronin handed them to the President of PMR Igor Smirnov).
The acting Head of the MFA of PMR Alexander Maliarchuk introduced the official position of Pridnestrovie which states that the documents handed by Kishinev cannot form the basis for a productive political dialogue, they are not regarded by the Pridnestrovien side as a point of discussions in any format, and stated arguments confirming this position.
Answering questions of media representatives, Alexander Maliarchuk noticed that Tiraspol is still ready to maintain relations with Kishinev provided that principles of equality, mutual respect and non-use of force will be followed. Pridnestrovie considers the work of expert groups to be one of the main vectors of this activity. According to the acting Minister of Foreign Affairs, several meetings between Pridnestrovien and Moldovan experts took place during the last month. They defined the first steps of their work aimed at solving the problems which population of two states faces as a result of the political unsettlement on the Dniester.
The acting Minister of Foreign Affairs also expressed his hope for an active cooperation with representatives of countries-guarantors and the intermediaries whose initiative can facilitate dialogue activization.
At the same time Alexander Maliarchuk stated there are no projects today which could be taken by the sides as a basis for discussions of summit talks. Alexander Maliarchuk assumed that the actions of Kishinev at the present moment are mostly determined by the pre-election campaign which has started in the neighbor country, when the real policy is most commonly replaced by the PR. According to the acting Minister of Foreign Affairs, one can hardly expect some serious progress in the settlement process the next months under such circumstances. “After parliamentary elections we will see whether the new authorities of Kishinev will be ready for the effective cooperation”, said Alexander Maliarchuk.
