Today, Foreign Ministry of the PMR hosted the meeting of Deputy Chairperson of the Government of the PMR for International Cooperation, Foreign Minister of the PMR Nina Shtanski with the World Bank delegation headed by the World Bank Moldova Country Office Manager Abdoulaye Seck. Participating in the meeting were also Minister for Social Protection and Labour of the PMR Oksana Bulanova and Deputy Minister of Education of the PMR for Science and Vocational Education Elena Lugovskaya.
In the course of the meeting the sides discussed relevant issues and prospects of bilateral cooperation in socio-humanitarian sphere – inter alia, possible areas of cooperation within World Bank program on confidence building between the two banks of the Dniester River. Nina Shtanski noted that this program has fully proved its worth. “Pridnestrovie proceeds from the point that the ultimate goal of our cooperation is welfare of people. We are open for cooperation with our international partners, in the framework of program on confidence building including. We expect correct terminology to be used, and are trying as much as possible to depoliticize social and humanitarian issues,” she stressed.
Nina Shtanski highly appreciated the work already done by the organization, in particular, project on repairing roofs of several social objects of the Republic. The diplomat also expressed hope that the next stage of cooperation will be aimed at enhancing socio-humanitarian initiatives in the field of tourism, ecology, business climate, and education.
The conversation was particularly focused on social services of certain categories of citizens: developing inclusive education in Pridnestrovie and deinstitutionalization of guardianship. Thus, commenting on the results of the meeting, Nina Shtanski paid attention to the fact these sensitive areas are mentioned in recommendations formulated by UN Senior Expert for Human Rights in Pridnestrovie Thomas Hammarberg which today have taken the form of “action plan” for Pridnestrovie. “Unfortunately, carrying out sweeping reforms of the system of guardianship of orphans all by its own doesn't seem possible for Pridnestrovie today. Last year we received very significant methodological support from our international partners, and we know how to use it. Now our communication, particularly, with the World Bank, is aimed to ensure that we are assisted in doing this. Today's meeting made it possible for us to define directions that could be of interest for the sides, and now representatives of the World Bank team, Foreign Ministry and other institutions of the Republic have to start the next step and identify concrete parameters and criteria of our work,” the diplomat concluded.
