Political representatives in process of talks on Transnistrian settlement meet in Germany

Chisinau, 13 July /MOLDPRES/ - An yearly conference titled, Confidence Building Measures in Transnistrian Conflict Settlement process, was held in the German town of Bad Reichenhall on 12-13 July. The event represents a platform of dialogue, meant to appreciate the developments in the activity of the sectoral working groups from Chisinau and Tiraspol, to help identify pragmatic solutions to the current problems on the agenda of the negotiations and back the settlement process, the Bureau for Reintegration has reported.   

Traditionally, attending the conference were the political representatives in the process of talks on Transnistrian settlement, representatives of the mediators and observers in the five-plus-two format, experts of the sectoral working groups from both banks of Dniester, etc.

The delegations were led as follows: OSCE Chairmanship - Cord Meier-Klodt (Germany) and Michael Scanlan (OSCE Moldova), Russia – Sergey Gubarev, Ukraine – Veleriy Zhovtenko, European Union – Thomas Mayr-Harting, USA – Julie Stufft, Chisinau – Gheorghe Balan, Tiraspol – Vitaly Ignatyev.      

The works were divided into three topic related workshops: education, transport and telecommunications. Attending the workshops were specialists of the concerned fields from Chisinau and Tiraspol, experts delegated by EU and by representatives of the permanent conference on political issues in the Transnistrian settlement process.

As for the education matter, the participants tackled subjects on apostillization of education acts issued by the university education institutions from the Transnistrian region, carrying out joint inspections at the Moldova-run Latin-script schools and organizing school Olympiads for pupils from both banks of Dniester.

The participants in the workshop on transport issues discussed potential options of opening a bridge at Gura Bicului-Bicioc and ways of ensuring access of vehicles from the Transnistrian region into the international road traffic, by taking into account the recommendations of the EUBAM Mission, exigencies of the Vienna Convention on Road Traffic from 8 November 1968 and requirements of the national legislation in the sector.

As far as the telecommunications issues are concerned, the sides exchanged opinions on establishing a functional mechanism of interaction, meant to remove the present obstacles in the electronic communications area, facilitate the work of operators providing networks and/or services in this field and to contribute to re-establishing the direct phone connection between the two banks of Dniester.

The participants agreed to continue consultations on the aforementioned issues at the next meetings of the sectoral working groups.

In their speeches, the mediators and observers appreciated the efforts made by the sides to carry out the provisions of the Protocol from 3 July, 2016 signed in Berlin at the official meeting of five-plus-two negotiations. At the same time, they stressed the need to boost the work of all present forms of dialogue and the importance to get favourable results for the residents from both banks of Dniester, in order to strengthen the atmosphere of trust and advance in the Transnistrian settlement process.

In the context of the subjects tackled, Deputy Prime Minister for Reintegration Gheorghe Balan unveiled a report on measures undertaken by the Moldovan authorities following the signing of the Berlin Protocol. Also, he voiced hope that the works of the present conference would stimulate the achievement of the joint goals of Transnistrian problem settlement.   

The deputy prime minister thanked Special Representative of the German OSCE Chairmanship-in-Office, Ambassador Cord Meier-Klodt and the government of Germany for the event’s organization.  

(Editor L. Alcaza)