On December 2 at the OSCE Mission office in Chisinau, political representatives from Pridnestrovie and the Republic of Moldova, Vitaly Ignatiev and Oleg Serebrian, met in the presence of representatives of mediators and observers in the negotiation process.
During the dialogue, topical issues of the current agenda were raised, including problems in the area of freedom of movement. In particular, the PMR Foreign Minister spoke in detail about the restrictions on the departure of Pridnestrovian officials on November 19 and November 23. Vitaly Ignatiev pointed out these measures to be discriminatory in nature, violating the Gentlemen’s Agreement of 2019. The Pridnestrovian Political Representative urged Chisinau to return to the implementation of the agreement on freedom of movement, bringing to the attention of all participants in the 5+2 format that these facts violate the rights of ordinary citizens and officials of Pridnestrovie and escalate tensions. In the last month alone, the number of such cases has increased manifold.
On the import of medications, the problem of acute shortage of a number of medicines for the treatment of oncological and rare diseases was raised once again. Specific cases of detained cargoes were named, when medications necessary for the population are kept in customs warehouses in Moldova for many months, which results in their shelf life expiration. The Pridnestrovian delegation called for the implementation of the agreed solution proposed by the experts in April on a mechanism for importing to Pridnestrovie on the basis of the Pridnestrovian register of vital medicines. The currently imposed procedures for importing medicines are extremely burdensome and discriminatory.
The issue of motor vehicles was also raised at the meeting. In this regard, the Pridnestrovian Side pointed out the need to unblock the full operation of the VROs as soon as possible. The participants in the meeting were informed about the deliberate nature of the actions that have been preventing the return of license plates to the legal owner for a year.
Over the past month, there has become one less negotiating agreement in the Berlin Plus package, as the Republic of Moldova has refused to prolong the Protocol Decision on Cooperation in the Field of Telecommunications.
The PMR Foreign Minister urged the resumption of work within the framework of the Permanent Conference, given the wide range of topical issues that need to be tackled with the involvement of international participants.
The problem of sustainable gas supply to Pridnestrovie in volumes corresponding to the real need, that is a precondition for resumption of electric power supply to the Republic of Moldova, was discussed separately. Consultations on this issue aimed at finding a sustainable balanced solution that meets the objective situation on the market will continue.
