On the meeting of expert (working) groups of Pridnestrovie and Moldova on economic issues

04/02/15

Today a meeting of expert (working) groups from Pridnestrovie and Moldova on economic issues took place in the office of the OSCE Mission in Tiraspol.

During the meeting the sides exchanged views on a number of sensitive issues in the field of foreign trade activities of Pridnestrovian economic entities, including those relating to the appearance of the requirements of tax authorities of the Republic of Moldova in relation to economic agents of the PMR, as well as existing administrative barriers for economic entities of the PMR on the part of Moldova.

There was a substantive discussion of a number of initiatives presented earlier by the Pridnestrovian side including draft protocol decisions to establish a mechanism of free trade between Pridnestrovie and Moldova and priority measures to stabilize the interaction between the parties in the economic sphere.

“A positive moment of the meeting was the beginning of the discussion of the recent initiative of our side - the draft of the protocol decision on priority measures for cooperation in the economic sphere of the two parties. We have come to a decision about the possibility to gather a subgroup on the banking sector in the near future; the Moldovan side has committed itself to indicating the date of the meeting of experts of the phytosanitary and veterinary control in two weeks. Also we have received assurances that the Moldovan side would officially express their proposals on our draft protocol decision. And at the next meeting of the group we will discuss the proposals of the Moldovan side in more detail,” – noted Alevtina Slinchenko, the Head of the expert group from Pridnestrovie, Minister of Economic Development of the PMR, in the course of communication with the media after the meeting.

The problematics of criminal cases initiated in Moldova against the Pridnestrovian entrepreneurs also became a separate subject of the discussion between the parties today, but the Moldovan side was unable to provide substantive information on the matter. During the meeting, the Pridnestrvian side also raised the issue on the Resolution adopted by Ukraine on March 18, 2015 to exclude checkpoints on the Pridnestrovian - Ukrainian border “Kuchurgan” and “Platonovo” from the list which determines the crossing points for excisable goods.

“We asked our Moldovan colleagues about the possibility of a joint address to Ukraine on defining factors of publication of such normative legal act, explanation as to how today the mechanism for the trade in excisable goods will operate. The Moldovan colleagues agreed to receive from us our draft address and, in its turn, to present their suggestions on our draft address to Ukraine”, - said the Minister of Economic Development of the PMR.

According to the materials of IA “Novosti Pridnestrovya”