President Yevgeny Shevchuk had a meeting with acting Foreign Minister. Vitaly Ignatiev informed the president about the current situation in the work of the expert (working) groups from Pridnestrovie and Moldova.
According to the acting minister, the Pridnestrovian side moved forward the initiative to hold the meetings of the expert (working) groups together with representatives on political issues in order to give further impetus to the dialogue. “Unfortunately, the dynamics is not very high, and the substantial part of the work leaves a lot to be desired. The range of problems is very wide at that. They are the issues of railway communication, politically motivated criminal cases and transportation. We have devoted considerable attention recently to the possibility of apostillization of certificates, which are issued by the Pridnestrovian State University. The solution of this problem will allow our graduates to receive education of a different level, including in the European Union, and also to seek employment on the basis of these documents, - said Vitaly Ignatiev. - We chose the parameters of a neutral diploma. Pridnestrovian approaches are based on the European experts’ recommendations appeared in 2014. Since that time, unfortunately, our Moldovan partners have not shown interest in that matter”. As the head of the Foreign Ministry of the PMR noted, the Pridnestrovian side expects that today’s upsurge of interest in the possibility of obtaining by Pridnestrovian graduates of the document recognized outside the PMR will be converted into concrete results.
The meeting also discussed the prospects for a possible meeting in the 5+2 format. It should be reminded that the German OSCE Chairmanship put forward this initiative. The parameters of meeting agenda are under discussion today.
“Any concrete results that the experts have developed or draft decisions, which could be put on the negotiation table, are out of the question now. We highly appreciate the capacity of the Russian Federation’s “non paper” proposals, which were identified by all participants and were supported also by OSCE representatives,” said the head of the Foreign Ministry. Among the issues reflected in the Russian proposals there is setting a moratorium on initiation of politically motivated criminal cases by the Moldovan side, developing guarantee mechanisms that would ensure implementation of the decisions that are reached at the level of political negotiation process, rejecting any unilateral actions and measures to put pressure on the participants in the negotiation process, some aspects of freedom of movement.
“The concept, which Pridnestrovie adheres to, is that meetings in the 5+2 format are to be effective. This requires the development of draft decisions on the existing problematic issues,” said the president. Yevgeny Shevchuk stressed the importance of finding mutually beneficial and mutually acceptable solutions at the negotiation table.
