House of Official Receptions hosted a meeting of Pridnestrovian Foreign Minister Vitaly Ignatiev with a large delegation representing foreign affairs agencies of the EU countries. The delegation included diplomats from 14 states, among them Germany, France, Slovakia, Austria, Hungary, Poland, the Netherlands, Czech Republic, Sweden, Romania, Slovenia, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia. The Pridnestrovian side was represented by Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Stetsyuk and Ambassador-at-Large in the rank of Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of the PMR Ruslan Slobodenyuk.
Welcoming the guests, Vitaly Ignatiev thanked the representatives of the EU Member States for their efforts on the track of the Pridnestrovian settlement, and also flagged the positive relationship between Pridnestrovie and the European Union.
During the meeting, the parties exchanged detailed views regarding the current situation in the negotiation process between Pridnestrovie and the Republic of Moldova. Vitaly Ignatiev noted a critical decline in the dynamics of work at all levels of the dialogue, including meetings of expert (working) groups and meetings of representatives on political issues. He also expressed disappointment with the results of the “Permanent Conference...” meeting in Bratislava, which was suspended due to the refusal of the Moldovan side to sign the protocol proposed by the mediators.
According to the PMR Foreign Minister, the failure of Moldova to fulfil its obligations, as well as the emergence of new problems related to closing accounts of Pridnestrovian enterprises in Moldovan banks and developing a sand pit in the Dubossary region of the PMR, impedes progress in the negotiation process.
Further, answering questions from diplomats, Vitaly Ignatiev dwelt in detail on some other aspects of relations between Moldova and Pridnestrovie, including a retrospective of the conflict. In addition, he paid attention to the political and legal background of the Pridnestrovian state, as well as topical issues of the social and economic development of the republic.
“Such visits are very useful because the European Union is closely monitoring the regional situation and, being an observer, is participating daily in the settlement of relations between Pridnestrovie and Moldova. Therefore, today we have focused our attention on the implementation of the agreements reached in the framework of the negotiation process,” Vitaly Ignatiev noted during the press scrum after the meeting.
According to the PMR Foreign Minister, all international participants, including the European Union, fully support the priority approach while addressing social, humanitarian and economic issues adopted after signing of the 2016 Berlin Protocol.
“At the meeting, we, among other things, spoke about some speculations from the Moldovan side, in particular about some supposedly existing settlement plans. I think that I managed to convince the partners that, firstly, there can be no plans other than those agreed with Pridnestrovie. And, secondly, we already have one plan named “Berlin+”. This is our roadmap that Moldova has not been able to fulfil for four years, and now it did not sign a protocol following the results of the 5+2 meeting. Accordingly, there are difficulties either with the powers of the political representative of the Republic of Moldova, or with changes in the position of Kishinev. I hope, our international partners will put very serious questions to the Moldovan side,” the diplomat emphasized.
