Today the meeting was held in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the PMR between the Head of the MFA Nina Shtanski, heads of Pridnestrovian expert groups and the Special Representative of the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office Erwan Fouere. Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Vitaly Ignatiev and Acting Head of the OSCE Mission in Moldova Jan Plesinger also took part in the meeting.
The Parties discussed a number of actual issues of the dialogue between Pridnestrovie and Moldova. In particular the key issues of the agenda of the upcoming consultations in the 5+2 format which will take place in mid-April in Vienna and the specific fields of activity of expert and working groups of Pridnestrovie and Moldova were discussed. According to Erwan Fouere the most promising spheres for further work are telecommunications and education. According to Special Representative of the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office, work of experts creates friendly atmosphere for 5+2 format which can positively reflect on resolving most difficult political issues.
Special Representative of the OSCE noted that since the Dublin meeting Pridnestrovie and Moldova moved forward significantly in reaching practical results. “Those meeting which took place between miss Shtanski and mister Carpov, number of meetings between the experts, the signing of Agreement on resumption of railway communication between Prime-Minister of the Republic of Moldova Vlad Filat and the President of the PMR Yevgeny Shevchuk – all these events demonstrate the level of goodwill which we have today. It allows us to hope that big potential exists for resolving issues in other spheres as well” – Erwan Fouere said.
In her turn, the Minister noted that today increased interest exists towards the work of expert groups between all members of the Permanent Conference in 5+2 format. She expressed hope that such level of attention would be maintained in future.
While talking with journalists, Nina Shtanski noted that Erwan Fouere arrived to Pridnestrovie on Kishinev-Odessa train. Thus he could be sure that there are no technical obstacles for resumption of full-scale railway communication through the territory of Pridnestrovie, – the diplomat noted. The fact that Mister Fouere decided to participate in this process as a passenger, allows us to hope further progress will be reached in seeking compromise, – Minister noted.
Giving his comments on the meeting, head of one of the expert groups, chief of the State Service for Communication, Information and Mass Media of the PMR Yevgeny Zubov informed that though there are a number of problems in sphere of communications, they all can be solved. This fact is confirmed by regular meetings of the working groups. On some issues, such as TV, telephone and postal services we already have agreements. The documents are to be considered by the sides, – expert said. According to Yevgeny Zubov, all the obstacles lie in political sphere.
In his turn, head of expert group on railway transport and communications, director of Government-owned Unitary Enterprise Pridnestrovian Railway Stanislav Kamayev told the journalists that signing of Agreement on resumption of railway communication is a very important step. It is the political will of Pridnestrovian and Moldovan leadership which allowed to sign this document, – Stanislav Kamayev noted. According to expert, at this moment technical and legal parameters of the resumption of railway communication through Pridnestrovie are being worked out.
