Moldovan deputy premier unveils priorities of actions in Transnistrian settlement for 2017

Chisinau, 18 January /MOLDPRES/ - Deputy Prime Minister for Reintegration Gheorghe Balan today unveiled the priorities of the work in the Transnistrian settlement field for 2017. The actions were set forth following a meeting with Special Representative of the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office for Transnistrian Settlement Wolf Dietrich Heim.  

Gheorghe Balan said that subjects of interest for the 2017 year had been presented at the meeting. “The priorities set are: free movement to the Transnistrian region, the subject of the Latin-script schools, possibility to open a bridge at Gura Bicului, return of farmlands from the Dubasari districts to their owners, OSCE mission’s access to the region, withdrawal of the equipment and ammunition from the Cobasna depot, as well as withdrawal of the Operative Group of Russian Forces deployed in the region,” Gheorghe Balan said.   

At the same time, the deputy prime minister for reintegration said that the sides had also discussed the developments of the process of negotiations in 2016. “Also, we established the next steps of the prospects for the meetings in the five-plus-two format. Thus, we will take joint efforts to contribute, both for short and for long terms, to improving the situation and the living of the residents from both banks of Dniester,” Balan said.

For his part, Special Representative of the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office for Transnistrian Settlement Wolf Dietrich Heim said that the present situation in the Transnistrian settlement was currently analyzed. “We are to discuss with all interlocutors more subjects; subsequently, we will set exact actions, as well as will start preparing for the next five-plus-two meeting,” Wolf Dietrich Heim said.

Special Representative of the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office for Transnistrian Settlement Wolf Dietrich Heim is on an official visit to Chisinau and Tiraspol on 17-20 January. On visit, he is to have meetings with Parliament Speaker Andrian Candu, Prime Minister Pavel Filip, Deputy Foreign and European Integration  Minister Lilian Darii. Also, the special representative on 19 January will meet the region’s leader Vadim Krasnoselsky in Tiraspol, the head of the so-called supreme soviet of the region, Aleksandr Shcherba and the interim political representative on behalf of the Transnistrian region, Vitaly Ignatyev.   

(Reporter A. Plitoc, editor A. Raileanu)