Tiraspol, 27 September. /Novosti Pridnestrovya/. Today, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the PMR Vitaly Ignatyev has met Special Representative of the OSCE Chairman-in-Office Cord Meier-Klodt.
As Vitaly Ignatyev told journalists following the meeting, the Pridnestrovian side has requested the OSCE chairman-in-office to call a regular meeting of the «Permanent commission…» in the 5+2 format. The previous meeting took place in Berlin on 2−3 June 2016 following a two-year pause.
«We regard it as an imperative need. The 'Berlin protocol', which we signed in early June, has not been implemented. We need to conduct monitoring and analysis of the current situation and identify options to solve the problems which we have already signed, including temporary options, when these solutions are reached. We believe it is very important to implement the 'Berlin protocol', which my colleague, the special representative of the OSCE chairman-in-office, has called a 'road map'. We generally share this position and believe we must move forward within its framework because it is able to improve the socio-economic situation.»
The protocol was signed in Berlin following the meeting of the «Permanent commission…» in the 5+2 format. The document outlined the areas of work to resolve a number of long-standing problems in relations between Moldova and Pridnestrovie, including the participation of motor cars with Pridnestrovian license plates in the international traffic and apostilling of higher education certificates issued in Pridnestrovie.
According to Vitaly Ignatyev, all these issues have not been solved, despite the «road map», solely through the fault of the Moldovan side. «We did not hold any meetings of expert (working) groups, and my Moldovan counterpart [vice premier Gheorghe Bălan] refused to meet at the level of political representatives," said Vitaly Ignatyev.
During the meeting, as the Pridnestrovian foreign minister told journalists, the Pridnestrovian side submitted their proposals for solving the railway problem. «The Moldovan side, with the support of Ukraine, violates the provisions of the 2012 agreement [protocol agreement «On the principles of the full resumption of rail freight through Pridnestrovie]," Vitaly Ignatyev noted in this respect. «We are facing the situation in which this agreement will expire until the end of the year. We need to produce an agreement that will allow all rail freight participants to benefit from it. The Pridnestrovian side has drafted a new agreement with addenda and technological schemes that detail a mechanism for the transit, export and import of cargoes to and from Pridnestrovian economic entities, as well as a formula of customs control. I have submitted this package to Mr Meier-Klodt so that he, as a mediator, will put out Pridnesrrovie's proposals among the participants of the negotiation process," underscored Vitaly Ignatyev.
