Tiraspol, 25 May. /Novosti Pridnestrovya/. One of the main issues raised at today's meeting of Pridnestrovie's foreign minister Vitaly Ignatyev and the acting OSCE chairman's representative Wolf Dietrich Heim was the possibility of holding a «5+2» meeting in the near future. «We believe that in a situation where the ability of some negotiators is very low, we have to use the whole potential of international negotiating mechanisms, including holding regular «5+2» format meetings," noted the foreign minister. Vitaly Ignatyev noted, in the meantime, that the «Permanent conference…» was seen as a «mechanism to discuss problems and come to solutions».
«This venue provides us with international expertise and certain support," added the foreign minister.
Our agency has already reported about Mr Heim's view of the prospects for calling a «Permanent conference…» meeting. «I'd like to note that, unfortunately, we and Mr Heim differ on the prospects and usefulness of '5+2' meetings. We believe the quicker and oftener we'll hold them, the better, because this is a venue where concrete solutions can be worked out. If we could reach an agreement on our own without our international partners, we would never meet Mr Heim," Vitaly Ignatyev commented on Wolf Dietrich Heim's words.
In an interview with journalists after the meeting with the Pridnestrovian foreign minister, Wolf Dietrich Heim said: «The leadership in both Tiraspol and Kishinev agree that the basic issue that has been developed is a package of eight items, including Berlin protocol provisions and some others. This is the agenda of the '5+2' format. But in order to hold such a meeting, there is no need to solve all the problems at once. If at least two issues are brought to a state that some serious technical arrangements can be made, it can be said that these issues can be resolved at the political level as well.»
The Pridnestrovian minister noted in this regard: «The Moldovan side calls it a package. Unfortunately, it is not so because the package implies the agreed patterns for resolving issues. It is a list of issues. Some mention eight issues. Pridnestrovie says there are ten issues, including interbank cooperation, railway issues and so on.»
At the same time, the minister noted that there were no restrictions on the agenda within the «Permanent conference…» «A side can propose any issues it considers important. This is the basic principle that does not restrict us to discussing those or other issues," Vitaly Ignatyev said.
«We have to start somewhere. Pridnestrovie is not ready to compromise. I reminded Mr Heim about our decision to discontinue ten criminal cases against Moldovan officials and police officers. We haven't seen reciprocal steps so far. There are no reciprocal steps in other areas, either. This is a negative trend which I believe requires the immediate attention of the OSCE chairmanship-in-office and other negotiators," concluded Ignatyev.
