Enlarged Meeting of the Board of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the PMR took place on May 11, 2011, with the participation of President of the PMR Igor Smirnov, members of the cabinet of Ministers, representatives of the Joint Control Commission, Chamber of Commerce and Industry of the PMR, as well as representatives of Abkhazia and South Ossetia in Pridnestrovie.
In his report Minister of Foreign Affairs of the PMR Vladimir Yastrebchak highlighted the basic directions of the work of the foreign department of the Republic in 2010-2011. In diplomat's words, the most significant events of the previous year that had influenced the foreign activity of Pridnestrovie were those devoted to the 65th Anniversary of the Great Patriotic War and the 20th Anniversary of the Pridnestrovien Moldavian Republic. Important component of the work of the MFA remained maintenance of high-dynamic cooperation with the Russian Federation at the bilateral level. New direction of the work became the launch of the work on a number of international initiatives along the Pridnestrovien direction, primarily, in the framework of the Meseberg Memorandum. The rise to power of a new team in Ukraine that stepped-up cooperation of the guarantor countries and continuation of the permanent internal political crisis in Moldova also influenced the direction of the work of the PMR's MFA.
The main task of the Pridnestrovien diplomacy, according to Vladimir Yastrebchak, remains the settlement of relations with the Republic of Moldova. Yet, progress in this direction is insignificant. The work of expert (working) groups in fact stands still while the official Chisinau in every way counteracts the adoption of decisions that could be interpreted as recognition of legal capacity of the Pridnestrovien authorities. “Both the Republic of Moldova and the Pridnestrovien Moldavian Republic are equal parties of the process of bilateral relations normalisation. In this case, equality means not only the possibility to express oneself at the negotiating table but also a completely equal status in all issues, including those of a state-legal character,” stressed the Minister.
The diplomat expressed his opinion, that for achieving practical results it is more reasonable for Tiraspol to concentrate the efforts not on the contacts with Chisinau, but on the work with international partners, whose advices are considered by Moldova. What is topical for Pridnestrovie at the current stage is not the discussion of the so-called “status” questions, but the development of the mechanism of guarantees for the fulfilment of the reached and future agreements.
During his report, Vladimir Yastrebchak cleared up the basic issues of interaction of Pridnestrovie with Russia, Ukraine, the EU and the USA, with allied states – Abkhazia, South Ossetia and Nagorno-Karabakh, and the other issues, concerning the activity of Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
During the Ministry board Deputy Ministers Sergey Simonenko, Alexander Malyarchuk and Vitaliy Ignatiev made reports on their working areas.
The Ministers of State Security, Economy and Internal Affairs made reports on the questions of interaction with Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Summarizing the enlarged meeting of the Board of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, President Igor Smirnov pointed that Pridnestrovien diplomats are forced to work in extremely tough conditions. They have to seek the recognition of the country's independence in the conditions, when Moldova insists on unitary type of its statehood, and the guarantor states support the idea of territorial unity of the Republic of Moldova with the special status for Pridnestrovie.
The Head of State also pointed, that during 2010 and 2011 the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in the whole coped with the assigned tasks, making its contribution to provision of security in the region and improvement of conditions for activity of Republic's economic agents. However, attention of the leading powers towards the range of problems of the Moldo-Pridnestrovien settlement has grown lately. That is why in situation, when the EU and the USA are leading a large-scale offensive game in our direction, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs should be extremely attentive. “The equality in the negotiating process, suppression of all the attempts to revise already signed documents and consistent implementation of Pridnestrovien people's will, expressed during the Referendum of 2006 – this must be the basis of the Pridnestrovien diplomacy,” pointed the President.
Igor Smirnov recommended the leadership of the MFA to cooperate more actively with other Ministries of the Republic in field-oriented areas and to intensify work aimed at promotion of a stable positive international image of Pridnestrovie.
