Today, International scientific-practical conference “The Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic and the Republic of Serbia: protection of sovereignty in the face of international turbulence” organized by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the PMR and the Pridnestrovian University is being held at T.G. Shevchenko State University of Pridnestrovie.
The event was attended by representatives of the Republic of Srpska: President of the Third Serbia political party Miroslav Parovich and member of the Presidium of the party “the Third Serbia” Marko Teslich. A number of representatives of political and public organizations of Serbia, as well as the expert community of the Russian Federation, including a member of the RISS heading at the invitation of Pridnestrovie to participate in the conference were deported by border police of Moldova from Kishinev Airport.
Among the guests of the event from the Russian Federation were representatives of the RF in the RM, Rossotrudnichestvo, Moscow State Institute of International Relations.
From the Pridnestrovian side the forum gathered Acting Foreign Minister of the PMR Vitaly Ignatiev, Minister of Economic Development of the PMR Alevtina Slinchenko, Rector of T.G. Shevchenko State University Galina Sandutsa, Honorary President of the Pridnestrovian State University Stepan Beril, as well as representatives of several ministries and departments of the PMR, scientific and expert community, public organizations of the republic.
Head of the Foreign Ministry Vitaly Ignatiev delivered an address on behalf of President of the PMR Yevgeny Shevchuk to the conference. The diplomat stressed that despite the distance, Serbia and Pridnestrovie have always been close to each other. “Pridnestrovians have always supported solidarity with the brotherly people of Serbia. During the tragic events in the Balkans, the residents of Pridnestrovie with deep compassion perceived bitter tribulations suffered by the Serbian people at the will of those who called themselves the world apologists of peace and democracy. The heroic resistance of the Serbian people is well understood to Pridnestrovians - for 25 years of independence we resist the pressure, threats and blockades which implemented, in essence, by the same forces which were behind the aggression against Serbia. The purpose of this pressure is clear - to induce Pridnestrovians to renounce independence and their national interests,” - he stressed.
Vitaly Ignatiev also noted that aspects of post-conflict settlement in the Republic of Srpska are in high demand in Pridnestrovie in scientific and diplomatic point of view. “We manage to clearly trace through the prism of the Serbian experience how the practice of double standards is realized on the political map of the world. In particular, approaches, mechanisms and models that were used successfully by the international mediators in the process of building relations between Serbia and Montenegro are not taken into account pointedly by them in the settlement of Moldovan-Pridnestrovian relations,” - stated the Head of the Foreign Ministry of the PMR.
At the same time, according to Vitaly Ignatiev, the “unscrupulous strategy of western partners aimed at the forcible separation of Kosovo and leading eventually to massive oppression of Kosovo Serbs, has much in common with the planned process of integrated blockade of any connections of Pridnestrovie with Russia and the Russian world”.
Word of welcome of Director of the Russian Institute for Strategic Studies Leonid Reshetnikov to the conference was read out by Honorary President of the Pridnestrovian State University Stepan Beril. In the address the Head of RISS said that a quarter of a century after the collapse of the Soviet Union and the Federative Socialist Republic of Yugoslavia both Serbia and Pridnestrovie “still feel repeated pressure of the same global players”. “Euro-Atlantic structures have not renounced their expansion to the East, and today we see their new attempts to expand the zone of their geopolitical, economic and cultural influence. All this poses an undeniable threat to the sovereignty of small states that persist on their own independent development path,” - stressed in the welcoming address of Leonid Reshetnikov.
There were made at the plenary session of the conference a number of expert reports, in particular, by Acting Foreign Minister of the PMR Vitaly Ignatiev and Minister of Economic Development of the PMR Alevtina Slinchenko.
The work of the forum will continue in the framework of the thematic sections. A number of topical international issues of the international agenda, as well as bilateral relations between Pridnestrovie and Serbia, in particular in trade-economic and humanitarian spheres, will be the subject of discussion.
