Tiraspol, 14 March. /Novosti Pridnestrovya/. Despite the fact that meetings of expert groups and political representatives are held, the progress and quality of decisions are very low, with additional problems and difficulties arising. This is what Pridnestrovie's political representative, foreign minister Vitaly Ignatyev said following a meeting with his Moldovan counterpart Gheorghe Balan.
The agenda of the meeting, which took place in Kishinev's OSCE office and lasted about two hours, included the most important issues for the sides.
«Priority issues, including those enshrined in the Berlin protocol, have not been solved up to now," explained Ignatyev.
Among them is a railway problem. According to the Pridnestrovian diplomat, this issue has not been solved even with regard to delivery of oil products through the northern sector of Pridnestrovie's railway.
Vitaly Ignatyev recalled that a meeting of expert (working) groups were held on 22 February at which the Moldovan colleagues announced that the Moldovan government was about to make a decision on the railway issue.
«I tried to learn from the Moldovan negotiator when the decision would be made on delivery of oil products to Pridnestrovie through the northern branch railway. Unfortunately, I did not receive any concrete answer on this issue," said the minister.
The negotiators also raised issues related to motor transport traffic and politically motivated criminal charges.
«My colleague surprised me, saying that the Moldovan side 'does not see' any politically motivated criminal charges, despite the fact that we have been solving this issue for a number of years and earlier even managed to share the lists of such cases. Also, this problem was included as a provision in the Berlin protocol. We, as political representatives, have all the powers to solve the very problem of politically motivated prosecution against Pridnestrovie's officials. I hope that a meeting of the expert (working) group on criminal cases and crime prevention will take place soon. Pridnestrovie has certain initiatives," said the minister.
«I hope that a practical solution will be found," he noted.
For the most part during the meeting, the negotiators discussed the plan of Moldova and Ukraine to establish joint border and customs control at the Kuchurgan crossing point.
«We believe these plans are extremely destructive. I, as a political representative, have called on every participant of this meeting to prevent the implementation of these plans which may lead to severe economic costs, including in the sphere of logistics, the freedom of movement for both vehicles and people, problems of regional security," said Ignatyev.
However, Kishinev does not heed or simply does not want to heed to Pridnestrovie's arguments and position. Moldova's chief negotiator Gheorghe Balan said that at the joint checkpoint Moldovan customs officers «will combat smuggling and that ordinary citizens may suffer any damage is no more than speculation.»
As Novosti Pridnestrovie has already reported, preliminary calculations show that in the event of the establishment of the joint checkpoint, the PMR's economy will lose at least $38 million. Thus, the country's economic agents will have to fill in additional customs declaration. Serious problems will also occur due to differences in the legislation of Pridnestrovie and Moldova regarding economic activities and the movement of goods. Individual businessmen may carry under $1,000 worth of goods without declaring to Pridnestrovie. In Moldova, this sum is limited to €300. In addition, legal persons may also face import problems. More than 50 politically motivated criminal cases have been brought against Pridnestrovian businessmen by Moldova. But the most serious risk is the deployment of Moldovan law enforcers at the Ukrainian border outside the Security Zone where their actions are not subject to any documents, which directly threatens to escalate the conflict.
