Tiraspol, 12 December. /Novosti Pridnestrovya/. The MFA of the PMR considers another declaration of the OSCE Ministerial Council to be an abstract document that has no direct relevance to the negotiation process between Pridnestrovie and Moldova, the commentary on the foreign ministry's website says.
The 23rd OSCE Ministerial Council was held in Hamburg, Germany, on 8−9 December. The council adopted a statement on the negotiations on the Moldo-Pridnestrovian Settlement Process in the «5+2» format. The document praises the work of the mediators and observers in the negotiation process in 2016. It also urges the sides «to continue co-ordinating their efforts and to make full use of their collective potential to promote progress in achieving a comprehensive resolution of the Transdniestrian conflict.»
The MFA hopes this appeal will become the direct guidance for the OSCE itself.
«For our part, we regard the six-month pause in the Permanent Conference meetings as unreasonable and inadmissible," says the MFA.
As we have informed, an agreement was reached in May to hold the first in two years round of talks in the «5+2» format. However, it became possible to organise a consultative meeting that took place in Berlin in early June. A protocol was signed as a result of the meeting, which was a precondition for the resumption of negotiations. Of the seven provisions of the protocol, only one has been fulfilled by Kishinev and Tiraspol.
The traditional informal conference in Bavaria also failed to make progress on the implementation of the protocol. The sides were unable to reach agreement on the resumption of negotiations in the «5+2» format. To give impetus to the stalled negotiations, Tiraspol has repeatedly called on the mediators to organise a meeting in the «5+2» format.
«We cannot find a rational explanation for the apparent inactivity of the individual participants of the negotiation process, against which the Moldovan side has not only refused to fulfil its commitments but also intensified pressure on Pridnestrovie, considerably deteriorating the socio-economic situation in the republic," the MFA's commentary says.
Moldova's minister of foreign affairs and European integration, Andrei Galbur, also addressed the meeting of the 23rd OSCE Ministerial Council. He called for a discussion of Pridnestrovie's status and other political issues, including the so-called «third basket».
The Pridnestrovian MFA for its part reminds of the protocol adopted in Berlin in the summer of 2016, according to which the sides committed to solve first of all socio-economic issues between Pridnestrovie and Moldova.
«In this respect the MFA of the PMR calls upon the participants of the negotiation process which are also OSCE members to avoid free interpretations of the context and provisions of the Berlin Protocol," the MFA's commentary notes.
