Today the Foreign Service of the PMR hosted the meeting of the Deputy Chairperson of the Government for International Cooperation of the PMR, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the PMR Nina Shtanski with H.E. Ambassador Jennifer Brush, the Head of the OSCE Mission to Moldova. Those participating were also Political Officers at the OSCE Mission to Moldova Lyndon Allin and Alexander Flenkya, as well as the First Secretary at the Ukrainian Embassy to the RM Taras Krempovich.
Parties discussed current state of arrangements to the regular round of official negotiations within the “Permanent Conference” format to be held on May 23-24 a.c. in Odessa. During the conversation parties broached issues of the socio-economic sphere, as well as some aspects of the freedom of movement and interaction in education and telecommunications.
Ambassador Jennifer Brush emphasized active participation of the Ukrainian OSCE Chairmanship in the context of the efforts made for the constructive development of the Moldovan-Pridnestrovian negotiations. “This is definitely a complex process but the willingness and desire of the parties to meet and to discuss ways to solve problems is more important,” she said.
During the meeting, much attention has been paid to the contents of the agenda for the upcoming meeting. To date, both Pridnestrovian and Moldovan parties have no common understanding of the issues to be discussed during the round in Odessa. Nina Shtanski expressed her hope that the efforts of the Ukrainian OSCE Chairmanship would result in such a draft agenda that would be agreed by both negotiating sides. Otherwise, as noted by the Minister, both sides will lose a lot of time discussing the vision of the negotiation process. Pridnestrovian delegation intends solely to the substantive work. According to her, this is the order of the President of Pridnestrovie Yevgeny Shevchuk: to focus at most on the content and to move forward in order to achieve actual results tangible for people.
Participants to the meeting discussed also dismantling of the aerial ropeway (funicular) in Rybnitsa (Pridnestrovie) and Rezina (Republic of Moldova). As previously reported, this facility constructed in 1961, has not been operated for many years and now it really threatens people's lives. In her comments to journalists, Nina Shtanski noted that the negotiators had expressed their willingness to contribute to the resolution of this issue. “We have huge possibilities for resolving this issue, if no one will fall for the temptation and turn it into a political issue” the Minister assured.
