Minister of Foreign Affairs of Pridnestrovie Vitaly Ignatiev received Ambassador Thomas Mayr-Harting, Special Representative of the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office. The meeting was also attended by the head of the expert working group on economic issues, First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economic Development of Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic, Sergei Obolonik, and the Head of the OSCE Mission to Moldova Kelly Keiderling.
Greeting the guests, Vitaly Ignatiev stated that since the previous meeting in June this year, the situation in relations between Moldova and Pridnestrovie had continued to deteriorate. According to the diplomat, Moldova uses the economic pressure tools against Pridnestrovie to solve political tasks.
In this context, Serghei Obolonik described in detail the problems provoked by the actions of the Republic of Moldova, related to the aggravation of fiscal pressure in the form of double customs duties, the creation of unbearable conditions for the work of Pridnestrovian enterprises, including the unjustified extension of the dual-use goods regime to their products. A strong emphasis was placed on the banking blockade, which is growing critical. The deputy prime minister stressed that it has an extremely destructive impact on the foreign economic activity of Pridnestrovie, including in the framework of cooperation with the EU partners.
The Foreign Minister paid attention to the fact that banking issue is politically motivated, artificial and has no connection with Moldova’s commitments to comply with international standards in this field. He pointed to a number of initiatives on the negotiating table that could normalize the situation, including the recommendations elaborated by the OSCE expert Ilse Schuster, as well as during the thematic workshops organized by the OSCE. However, the Moldovan side has neither the political will nor willingness to move in this direction.
During the discussion, Vitaly Ignatiev regretted the lack of adequate response to the proposal of Pridnestrovie to sign a Declaration on Peaceful Approaches to Settlement.
The Pridnestrovian side stressed that it would like the international participants, especially the OSCE, to take a proactive rather than a wait-and-see attitude so as to bring the Republic of Moldova back to dialogue in order to solve real social and humanitarian problems in the interests of the people. In this context, the prospects for holding events in the framework of the negotiation process this year were discussed.
The participants in the meeting also addressed some aspects related to the freedom of movement, including the proper implementation of the agreement on the participation of Pridnestrovian vehicles in the international road traffic.
