Chairman of the Government of the PMR Pavel Prokudin held a meeting with OSCE Chairman-in-Office, Federal Minister for Foreign Affairs of the Federal Republic of Germany Frank-Walter Steinmeier. As part of the delegation the meeting was also attended by Special Representative of the OSCE Chairman-in-Office Cord Hinrich Meier-Klodt, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Federal Republic of Germany to the Republic of Moldova Ulrike Maria Knotz, Head of the Task Force for the OSCE Antje Leendertse, senior representatives of the Federal Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Federal Republic of Germany and the OSCE. From the Pridnestrovian side the meeting was attended by members of the Government of the PMR.
At the meeting the parties exchanged general views on some aspects of the ongoing negotiation process between Pridnestrovie and the Republic of Moldova. During the conversation the Chairman of the Government of the PMR stressed the high intensity of contacts with the German OSCE Chairmanship, noting that the active stand of the Chairmanship in the Moldovan-Pridnestrovian settlement process allowed largely to strengthen the substantive work on solving some problems in relations of the parties. At the same time Pavel Prokudin expressed his opinion that there is a need to find solutions at the negotiating table, which would promote raising well-being of people in Pridnestrovie and Moldova, and confirmed the readiness of the Pridnestrovian side for such work.
The Pridnestrovian side informed the OSCE Chairman-in-Office about negative situation in the field of railway importing of cargos in Pridnestrovie caused by unilateral actions of Moldova and Ukraine. During the meeting it was noted that this issue has extremely sensitive social and humanitarian nature, threatening multimillion-dollar losses for the economic entities of the Republic. In this regard, the Chairman of the PMR’s Government urged the OSCE Chairmanship to take an active part in solving this acute problem. Whereas, Vitaly Ignatiev drew attention of the OSCE Chairman to the Pridnestrovian initiative to organize an emergency meeting of the “Permanent Conference...” in the 5+2 format, devoted specifically to this issue.
“The most urgent issue on today’s agenda is the railway topic. We urged to assemble an emergency meeting in the 5+2 format and, certainly, we hope that such a respected diplomat, heavyweight of the European politics would inspire our Moldovan partners to address this issue” – said Pavel Prokudin after the meeting.
During the meeting, upon an initiative of Frank-Walter Steinmeier interlocutors discussed the issues of external usage of education documents issued in Pridnestrovie, as well as participation of cars registered in Pridnestrovie in international traffic. Representatives of Pridnestrovie expressed their readiness to continue searching for compromise-based solutions in these areas, as well as on other provisions reflected in the Berlin Protocol.
“We discussed the situation that the issues documented in the Berlin Protocol have not been resolved in a timely manner. We presented our views on the situation that reside in the fact that there is no lack of will and desire to compromise on the part of Pridnestrovie. There is an attempt from the Moldovan side to politicize any issues, to try receiving some political dividends and to extend its legal framework on Pridnestrovie. In our view, this is unacceptable and contrary to the small steps tactics, which, as Mr. Steinmeier today confirmed, is relevant and effective in the ongoing negotiation process” – stressed the Head of the Foreign Ministry of the PMR while talking to the media after the meeting.
As Vitaly Ignatiev noted at the discussion, it is necessary to depoliticize the existing issues, follow intentions to improve living of people and create an atmosphere of trust upon condition that the parties abandon unilateral actions worsening the situation of the other party. In this context, the Foreign Minister of the PMR stressed the urgency of developing a mechanism of guarantees for implementation of the agreements reached in the negotiation process on the basis of proposals presented by the Russian Federation at Berlin 5+2 meeting.
Source: Website of the Government of the PMR
