Today video briefing for Pridnestrovian and Moldovan Mass Media took place in the office of the OSCE Mission in Chisinau. It was devoted to the latest round of negotiations in Permanent Conference format. Special Representative of the OSCE Chairperson-in-office for the Pridnestrovian settlement process Ambassador Erwan Fouere, political representatives in negotiation process from Pridnestrovie and from Moldova Nina Shtanski and Yevgeny Karpov and Head of the OSCE Mission in Moldova Ambassador Jennifer Brush took part in the press-conference.
Ambassador Erwan Fouere opened press-conference and welcomed the agreements to intensify dialogue between the sides in different fields. “The talks held over the past two days in Vienna were very constructive and have helped to address important matters affecting the daily lives of people living on both banks of the river, including schools and freedom of movement,” said Erwan Fouere. “This year, since the restart of official talks, we have been able to find common ground on a number of outstanding issues, and I am hopeful that we can build on this and achieve concrete progress when we reconvene in Dublin in November”, – he pointed out.
While appraising the results of the round Nina Shtanski noted the practical nature of issues which have been discussed, among them – issues in sphere of education, railway and vehicle transportation, authorization documents (so-called ‘permits') and problems in banking sphere. “We highly appreciate the decision which was agreed upon on the issue of nostrification of the diplomas of the graduates of Pridnestrovian educational institutions without taking away the white copies which happened before”, – said the head of Pridnestrovian foreign-political agency.
She also noted that during the work of the Permanent Conference the sides managed to discuss problems which Pridnestrovian economic agents are facing while conducting foreign trade. “Participants of the 5+2 format listened to our report and we decided that after the return we should proceed to work in expert groups. I hope that in the near future we shall see the results in resolving some of our chronic problems. The existing restrictions against Pridnestrovian enterprises in sphere of foreign trade don't correspond to the constructive spirit of dialogue which is developing successfully the last year”, – Minister said.
According to Nina Shtanski, during the last round of negotiations attention has been given to some painful problems in sphere of transportation. “We've made one step ahead in resolving issues which deal with organization of vehicle passenger and freight transportation, freedom of movement of people and goods, problems with Pridnestrovian number plates” – she said. “We agreed to intensify our communication on the level of political representatives and we shall continue to hold meetings until the next round on weekly basis in order to make our work more productive and in order to have more positive results by the next round”, – Minister pointed out.
Nina Shtanski expressed her gratitude to the Russian side for readiness to assist in resolving problems of passenger railway transportation. “We are grateful to the Russian side which expressed readiness to organize talks between representatives of Pridnestrovian and Moldovan railways with leadership of Russian railways in Moscow in order to continue to discuss issues, connected with organization of passenger railway transportation on railway routes which previously existed”, – she said.
Head of Pridnestrovian diplomacy also positively appraised proposal to create special sub-group on cooperation in banking sphere as part of expert group on economy which was supported by co-mediators in negotiation process.
Pridnestrovian and Moldovan journalists had opportunity to address questions to the political representatives of the sides during the video briefing.
In particular, journalists were interested what issues had major priority in the discussions during the negotiations. Nina Shtanski informed that these were the issues of social and economic sphere. “During the last rounds we centered on issues of social and economic cooperation and it reflects the spirit which appeared in the negotiation process in January when Yevgeny Shevchuk and Vlad Filat agreed to implement tactics of small steps”, – Minister said. Pridnestrovian diplomat also noticed that there are high public expectations connected with the results of this work as its success will directly affect people's welfare. “These are the issues of social and economic bloc which take most time and are most topical today”.
Answering the question about the perspectives of resumption of full-scale railway transportation through Pridnestrovie Nina Shtanski noticed that in spite of this issue being discussed actively during the round of negotiations, practical results will appear later on. “I hope representatives of Moldova's Railways and representatives of Pridnestrovian Railways shall depart for negotiations with the Russia's Railways and shall discuss, at least, issues of railway transportation Kishinev-Saint-Petersburg across Tiraspol”, – diplomat noticed. At the same time minister pointed out that there was already certain progress reached in sphere of freight railway transportation.
Answering the question about the effectiveness of the ‘small steps' tactics, which became basic one, political representative of Pridnestrovie said that the sides are already benefiting from agreements which have been reached. “Economic agents both in Pridnestrovie and in Moldova are benefiting from this decision. These benefits can be assessed in large sums. And it stimulates further steps in this direction”, – Nina Shtanski said. At the same time, according to Minister's words, there is number of unresolved problems in fields of taxation of Pridnestrovian imports and exports. “Pridnestrovie abolished 100% protective duty on Moldovan goods but up to now we didn't see similar step from the Moldovan side. In the nearest future we shall be able to work out these issues in the expert group on economics”, – Pridnestrovian diplomat informed. Nina Shtanski expressed hope that after the return of political representatives the experts who are members of this group will get relevant instructions and orders from political representatives.
During the briefing Nina Shtanski also touched upon number of other issues of bilateral cooperation with Moldova.
Next meeting in the format of Permanent Conference shall take place in Dublin in late November. Before the next round of negotiations it is expected that mediators and observers shall visit Kishinev and Tiraspol.
