On February 13, 2012, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the PMR Nina Shtanski held a working meeting with the delegation of the UNICEF Country Office in the Republic of Moldova headed by Alexandra Yuster. Participating in the meeting were also Deputy Foreign Minister of the PMR Vitaly Ignatiev, Programme's Coordinator for Social Protection Sanja Saranovich, Programme's Coordinator for Healthcare and Education Svetlana Shtefanets, Programme's Coordinator for Social Policy Sergey Buruiana, and Coordinator for Monitoring and Evaluation Elena Laur.
One of the main goals of the visit by the UNICEF delegation to Pridnestrovie is to collect and analyze proposals of the Pridnestrovien side as regards the most important areas of cooperation and optimal forms of direct interaction. UNICEF Representative to Moldova also declared readiness of its organization to assist in implementation of a number of projects in Pridnestrovie aimed at rendering help to children. She emphasized that every child has the right to family, family without violence, right to education, respect and love, and the UNICEF Moldova Office intends to foster creation of the necessary conditions to meet this. Alexandra Yuster told that at the current stage of cooperation organization is determined to devote special attention to families with adopted children. She also considers solution of the problem of social orphanage to be a priority goal.
Nina Shtanski highly estimated the work of the UNICEF which over 10 years has been conducting its activities on the protection of children's rights in Pridnestrovie. The Minister stressed that Tiraspol highly appreciates vast experience of the international organization in rendering practical assistance in the sphere of protection of the rights and interests of children, women and disabled people. “We are especially pleased to hear that representatives of the UNICEF are ready to work regardless of the political environment, regardless of the political context and relations between Moldova and Pridnestrovie. It means that our partners are really interested in promoting the solution of children's problems,” she stated to the journalists after the meeting.
In the course of the dialogue, the sides defined parameters of further cooperation. According to Nina Shtanski, implementation of new UNICEF social projects in Pridnestrovie will be started in 2013. At the same time, UNICEF will continue to coordinate a number of projects already being realized on the territory of Pridnestrovie. The diplomat underlined that UNICEF possesses a huge database of donor organizations; therefore, taking into account authority of this international organization, it will be easier for it to carry out resource support to the solution of specific problems. The head of the foreign political department expressed confidence in the fact that UNICEF's involvement in coordination of efforts of the state and civil society structures will allow increasing effectiveness of the given projects.
The Pridnestrovien side expressed its interest in extending humanitarian cooperation with the United Nations Children's Fund and charging it with practical content. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the PMR also expressed readiness to render assistance to UNICEF in arranging its interaction with the field-specific organs of power of the Pridnestrovien Moldavian Republic.
