Tiraspol, 31 March. /Novosti Pridnestrovya/. President Yevgeny Shevchuk met the acting foreign minister, Vitaly Ignatyev, and the director of GUKP Pridnestrovian Railway, Oleg Kulbikov. The meeting focused on the results of a meeting of expert working groups on railway transportation that took place on 30 March 2016, the president's press office reports.
Since 1 January 2016 Ukraine and Moldova have changed a scheme of railway transportation of goods imported to Pridnestrovie. A corresponding protocol decision was signed by Moldovan and Ukrainian representatives in December 2015. In this way Slobodka-export and Kuchurgan-export stations, the only stations from which Pridnestrovian engines could further transport cargoes, are excluded from the scheme.
Oleg Kulbikov briefed the president on the details of the expert meeting. «The negotiations were rather tough. The Pridnestrovian side showed a principled stand on the impossibility of embedding the scheme of Pridnestrovian imports into the technology of the Moldovan transit due to considerable costs for additional transit duties and fees," said Oleg Kulbikov.
Moldovan partners were given by Pridnestrovie a package of proposals on the cooperation of railway regulators. The document and the mechanism of its implementation have been elaborated by experts of Pridnestrovie's MFA, SCC and GUKP Pridnestrovian Railway.
«The package reflects to a large extent real life conditions. It is adjusted to meet the legal requirements and regulations of Moldova and Ukraine. It clearly articulates the interaction of railway administrations," noted Kulbikov. «We have proposed to maintain the logistically correct transportation of goods from the Kuchurgn station to Tiraspol, exclude a circulation flow via Bendery 2 and Tiraspol and the possibility of levying double payments.
Oleg Kulbikov underscored that the mechanism proposed by Pridnestrovie aims to ensure the supply of import goods to Pridnestrovian economic agents with regard to maximum economic and logistic benefit.
«In the course of the meeting of expert working groups Moldova put forward new demands for the mandatory presence of Moldovan customs authorities at the Tiraspol railway station. This proposal goes counter to protocol agreements in the customs sphere," explained the railway director. «Moreover, the last notice said that under present conditions Pridnestrovian import issues can be solved only if the Pridnestrovian railway affiliates to the Moldovan railway. For these reasons the meeting was exhausted.» According to Oleg Kulbikov, such statements by Moldovan partners suggest that «the prolongation of the protocol decision of 30 March 2012 'On principles of resuming full-fledged railway transportation of goods via Pridnestrovie' may be irrelevant». «By signing this protocol decision, the sides have made certain commitments and guarantees. As for today the Moldovan side does not fulfil them in full," concluded the railway director.
The acting foreign minister, Vitaly Ignatyev, informed the president that attempts to coordinate the optimal scheme of the Pridnestrovian railway's participation in supplying cargoes to the PMR will continue at the experts' level.
