Today Head of foreign office of the PMR Nina Shtanski received delegation of the OSCE Mission headed by the OSCE High Commissionaire on National Minorities Knut Vollebaek. Participating in the meeting also were acting Head of the OSCE Mission Jan Plesinger, Advisor to the OSCE High Commissionaire Lars Hansen, Senior Political Advisor to the OSCE High Commissioner Bob Deen, Senior Human Dimension Officer at the OSCE Mission to Moldova Jacqueline Carpenter.
Minister noted, that the relations of constructive interaction with the OSCE Mission to Moldova have already developed. At the present moment the sides manage to work successfully on a number of important aspects.
Functioning of schools with teaching on Latin script in Pridnestrovie became one of the topics of discussion. The OSCE High Commissionaire expressed conviction, that representatives of ethnic groups must have a choice to be educated on desirable language. In this connection Knut Vollebaek marked with pleasure the readiness of the Pridnestrovien side to intensify activity of expert (working) groups on education.
Nina Shtanski noted, that the problem of schools with teaching on Romanian language exists only in political sphere. In Pridnestrovie all the necessary conditions for such educational institutions to function adequately and to be registered in simplified order were created.
After the meeting, while giving comments to the journalists, she reminded that in due time the problem of the Romanian schools gave rise to the adoption of the whole range of sanctions in respect of Pridnestrovie. “If this question is leveled, Moldova will lose certain instruments of indirect influence on Pridnestrovie through international actors. Perhaps, that is why some Moldavian representatives may have no particular interest in fast and constructive settlement of such problem,” Minister explained. Nina Shtanski also mentioned, that today the popularity of schools with teaching on Romanian language has significantly decreased even among those who used their educational services. According to her, the quantity of pupils in such schools has decreased almost fourfold. Besides, the quantity of teachers has decreased twice in these educational institutions. “In these schools there is a lack of teachers of many subjects; the pupils are transferred to the other educational institutions, where the Moldavian language is studied on Cyrillic script, but the quality of education is better,” explained Nina Shtanski. This information about real situation around the present problem was new to Knut Vollebaek.
On the initiative of the Pridnestrovien side the situation in the sphere of consular service for Russian citizens living in Pridnestrovie was discussed during the meeting. Negotiations with the Moldovan side on the opening of full-scale General Consulate of the Russian Federation in Tiraspol are held by Russia. Minister urged the OSCE Mission to enter the process of resumption of full-scale activity of Russian consular office in Tiraspol. Nina Shtanski drew the attention of Knut Vollebaek on that fact, that there are more than 100, 000 people who need consular service. These people must not be deprived in their rights. “Today, for settlement of this issue, it is necessary to have a will of the leadership of the Republic of Moldova,” Minister concluded.
