Today, the small hall of the Dvorets Respubliki (State Cultural Center) hosted the expanded session of the Pridnestrovian Foreign Ministry Collegium, coincided with the Diplomat’s Day. We remind that in accordance with the Decree of the President of the PMR No. 403 “On Amendments to the Decree of the President of the PMR of June 13, 2001 No. 300 “On the establishment of professional holidays and memorable days in the Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic the “Day of diplomats of the PMR previously celebrated on May 6 was appointed on February 10.
The expanded collegium was attended by President of the PMR Yevgeny Shevchuk, Chairperson of the Government of the PMR Tatiana Turanskaya, Deputy Chairperson of the Supreme Soviet of the PMR Sergei Cheban, the leaders of the Constitutional, Supreme, Arbitration Courts, representatives of agencies, heads of foreign diplomatic missions, as well as representatives of civic, academic circles, with which the interaction was going during 2014.
Foreign Minister of Pridnestrovie Nina Shtanski gave a summary report on the activities of the Ministry. According to her, there is a deep symbolism in establishing the date of the professional holiday of Pridnestrovian diplomats on February 10. “Russian diplomacy plays a key role in the formation of the personnel potential of the PMR's MFA. The history of Russian diplomacy for us is an absolute benchmark”, - she said. “The strategic partnership, constant defense of national interests, patriotism unite us with our Russian colleagues,” – highlighted the minister.
Nina Shtanski called the 2014th year as particularly successful for the PMR in the context of development of bilateral relations with the Russian Federation. “2014 was marked by substantive promotion of cooperation with Russia. Achievements on that track widened both quantitatively and qualitatively, and the results are practical in character”, - said the minister. According to her, the work towards Russia is in line with the principle of “from words to deeds”.
Thus, in the development of the Protocol “Rogozin – Shevchuk” 15 documents were signed in the form of memoranda and protocols between the executive authorities of the PMR and federal agencies of Russia. These agreements do not only formulate the framework norms and basic directions of interaction development in the short term, but also set the tone for the further mutually beneficial cooperation. “The Foreign Ministry of Pridnestrovie proceeds from the fact that the consistent and full-format implementation of provisions of the memoranda will allow to enhance personnel potential of Pridnestrovian institutions, to create conditions for the establishment of sustainable and effective contacts in the economic, transport, scientific, educational and cultural spheres,” – the PMR’s Foreign Minister stressed the importance of the agreements. In this context, Nina Shtanski expressed gratitude to the Head of State, the Presidential Administration, the Government of the PMR, agencies that were involved in the development and approval of documents regulating Russia - Pridnestrovie cooperation at a totally new level. “It is well-coordinated, thoughtful and team work allowed to organize effective interaction with our Russian colleagues,” – she stressed.
The Minister emphasized the role of Special Representative of the President of the Russian Federation for Pridnestrovie Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin, his Apparatus and Assistant Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Loskutov, who not only actively maintained contacts with the Pridnestrovian side over the year, but visited the republic in person more than once. “We also appreciate the level of cooperation that has developed with colleagues in the RF’s Foreign Ministry and the Russian Embassy,” – added the Head of the Foreign Ministry.
During her speech Nina Shtanski turned attention on the achievements in the field of consular services for Russian citizens of Russia. So, she said, through combining efforts we managed to make so that there is no more need to go to Kishinev for obtaining so-called children's citizenship, procedures on getting biometric passports are conducted in Tiraspol; in addition, since the end of November 2014 the on-site point of the consular department started again to accept applications from those wishing to acquire Russian citizenship and who were born before the legitimization of the USSR collapse.
Nina Shtanski noted: in 2014 contacts with foreign countries and international organizations developed actively - more than hundred meetings with representatives of embassies and international organizations were held, as well as a large number of meetings with the President and the leadership of the Government. Within the report, attention was paid to cooperation with the fraternal republics - South Ossetia and Abkhazia. So, a draft of the updated basic agreement with South Ossetia was prepared, with Abkhazia – we signed a plan of inter-institutional consultations between the Foreign Ministries of the republics, agreements by public prosecution office and investigative committees, cultural contacts developed actively. Negotiations with the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic are carried out on the exchange of trading houses, a memorandum between agencies responsible for the development of education and science was signed.
The minister drew attention to the description of the state of the negotiation process and the results achieved on that track.
Speaking to diplomats and distinguished guests Nina Shtanski touched on the issues of staffing the ministry. In particular, she said that in order to maintain a consistently high level of professionalism of the diplomats a systematic work to improve the skills of employees was organized. At the same time, said Nina Shtanski, despite the decrease in the number of staff of the department (for the last three years, the composition of the Foreign Ministry was reduced by 22 employees), as well as the reduction in expenditure financing (under separate items there is a reduction up to 10 times, the financing of the central apparatus of the Foreign Ministry reduced from 2011 to 2014 years by 2 million rubles of the PMR), the Department copes with the objectives.
Nina Shtanski thanked the President of the PMR for the initiative to amend the current legislation of the Republic, made possible the payment of certain allowances for special working conditions to the diplomats. She stressed that the amount of financing that was allocated to pay labour before the reduction of the number of employees of the Foreign Ministry in 2011, was not changed currently, even with the additional payments. The minister also thanked those deputies who supported the decision.
Nina Shtanski expressed gratitude to diplomats for the team spirit and loyalty to the oath.
During the collegium Deputy Minister Vitaly Ignatiev made a report on the development of peacekeeping and security areas.
During the collegium Deputy Minister Igor Shornikov informed the guests on ministry’s print publications published in 2014.
In the course of the meeting an officer who received the diplomatic rank for the first time took the oath, as well as the awarding with departmental letter and letters of gratitude were presented to staff of the PMR’s MFA and members of the public who actively participated in the implementation of the foreign policy course of the republic in 2014.
