Dublin saw conclusion of a regular round of negotiations in the format of the Permanent Conference. It was final meeting held under auspices of the Irish Chairmanship of the OSCE. Political representatives of Pridnestrovie and Moldova, Nina Shtanski and Yevgeny Karpov, told about results of work within the 5+2 format during video briefing for Pridnestrovian and Moldovan mass media organized by the OSCE Mission to Moldova. Video conference was conducted by Special Representative of the OSCE Chairman-in-Office for the Pridnestrovian settlement Ambassador Erwan Fouere. Participating in the briefing was also Head of the OSCE Mission to Moldova Ambassador Jennifer Brush.
Ambassador Erwan Fouere, noting the end of the Irish Chairmanship of the OSCE, expressed satisfaction with achieved results of work in the format of the Permanent Conference. “Five meetings were held and we have certain achievements: rules and agenda of negotiations were worked out, there was a meeting between leaders of Pridnestrovie and Moldova during which Protocol Agreement about opening of railway communication via Pridnestrovie was signed,” the Irish diplomat told. Erwan Fouere expressed appreciation to everyone who was involved in stepping up interaction with Pridnestrovie and Moldova. “This impetus should be maintained and intensified,” he emphasized. “Cooperation between the sides in socio-economic and humanitarian spheres should be further strengthened”. Ambassador noted that from January 1 Ukrainian colleagues take up the torch of OSCE Chairmanship, and the next round of negotiations in the Permanent Conference format will take place in Ukraine.
Assessing the latest Dublin round of negotiations, political representative of Pridnestrovie Nina Shtanski marked productivity of the dialogue. “This round brought all participants of negotiations closer to the common understanding of the majority of existing problems,” she noted. According to the Minister, a whole range of issues relating to interaction between Pridnestrovie and Moldova in socio-economic sphere, in the bank sphere including, was substantively discussed in the course of the three-day talks. The sides also discussed resumption of a full-scale passenger railway communication via the territory of Pridnestrovie. As Nina Shtanski told, participants of the negotiations approached very closely resolution of the question about opening of movement via bridge near villages Bychok and Gura Bykului. “Much attention was given to discussions of the Protocol Decision on the free movement of people, goods and services. Regretfully, the sides didn't reach final resolution of this issue, and as a result we agreed to bring further discussion of this significant document to a higher political level,” the diplomat told.
Discussions were separately focused on problems in the sphere of education. As Nina Shtanski told, considerable expert assistance was rendered by OSCE Mission to Moldova which presented in Dublin its recommendations in this sphere. They indicate the need to register and license activity of Moldovan Latin-script schools functioning on the territory of Pridnestrovie, as well as the need to coordinate educational programs. “Recommendations of the OSCE Mission may form the basis of resolution of this sensitive issue,” Nina Shtanski stated. At the same time, the Pridnestrovian side expressed concern over remaining difficulties in the process of nostrification of Pridnestrovian educational documents in Moldova.
Recent round was also focused on such important topic as documents accumulated by Pridnestrovie and Moldova during years-long period of negotiation process. All participants of the Permanent Conference supported the idea of taking into account all earlier signed documents and voiced proposals on the need for the sides to carry out additional work for defining topicality and priority of relevant agreements. “Documents which were signed in the course of the negotiation process cannot be ignored – it is the work of diplomats and politicians which should be taken into account. Work done prior to us should be the basis for further development of the negotiation process,” Nina Shtanski told.
In the course of the Dublin round there was open and meaningful exchange of opinions regarding the ways of further development of the dialogue in the 5+2 format. In this connection Political Representative of Pridnestrovie stated, “Since this meeting is the final one, agenda included also issue of discussing the perspectives of further development of the dialogue in the format of the Permanent Conference. Very open exchange of views took place; positions of all participants of the format were clearly stated. Pridnestrovie once again reaffirmed its commitment to the common goal agreed at the top level in January of current year in Odessa. At that point of time Yevgeny Shevchuk and Vladimir Filat proclaimed the tactics of “small steps” and agreed to start cooperation in socio-economic sphere to improve life of people on both banks of the Dniester and in doing so – to build the climate of trust as the basis for a dialogue on conflict settlement. Obviously, and this was noted by the Chairperson, regardless the fact that many issues of the agenda are not agreed upon and are unresolved, we managed to achieve a lot. It is important to understand that in the framework of the tactics of small steps concrete results were received and they are perceived by people and economic agents. This year there are more results than were achieved previously over the same period. We were rejoiced to hear summarizing speech of the representative of incoming Chairperson of Ukraine Ambassador Deshchytsia who assured that everything necessary for a dialogue to be carried out and to be suitable for all participants of the format will be undertaken under chairmanship of Ukraine.”
Talking to journalists, Nina Shtanski also touched upon the question of Package Proposal on activization of interaction of Pridnestrovie and Moldova on issues of socio-economic character. Let us remind that such Package Proposal was handed over to the Moldovan side on November 14, 2012, during the meeting of political representatives in Tiraspol. Nina Shtanski told that Pridnestrovian proposals were voiced in Dublin and were actively considered during the discussion. “Our proposals are based on the idea of building the space of successful socio-economic interaction,” the diplomat noted. “We suggested that common steps in socio-economic field should be built, with these steps to allow the sides to come closer, strengthen the dialogue and expand areas of interaction”. According to Nina Shtanski, the Package Proposal, in particular, included initiatives to organize in Pridnestrovie civil aviation and passenger transportation on the Dniester.
In the course of the video briefing, other issues which had been the subject of discussions in Dublin were touched upon as well.
