Bender, 25 April. /Novosti Pridnestrovya/. Pridnestrovian foreign minister Vitaly Ignatyev met the Moldovan delegation headed by President Igor Dodon at the checkpoint Bendery (Chisinau). The head of Bendery, Roman Ivanchenko, welcomed the guests at the entrance to the city's state administration.
The first part of the meeting between the presidents was held tete-a-tete. The two leaders talked for about an hour and a half, the presidential press service reports. The discussion was then continued with the involvement of other members of the delegations.
The Pridnestrovian side was represented by President Vadim Krasnoselsky, foreign minister Vitaly Ignatiev, head of the presidential administration Sergey Belous, ambassador at large Ruslan Slobodenyuk and deputy minister of economic development Alevtina Slinchenko. The Moldovan delegation included President Igor Dodon, his advisers Vasile Sova, Elena Gorelova and Pavel Voicu, as well as presidential administration consultant Nicolae Tveatcov.
Ahead of the extended discussion, the sides exchanged congratulations on the May holidays. The two leaders emphasized that the most significant holiday - Victory Day - was honoured in both Pridnestrovie and Moldova.
Vadim Krasnoselsky called today's meeting a good opportunity to exchange views on topical issues. Talking about the negotiating process, the Pridnestrovian president noted that he appreciated the desire of the Moldovan party to dialogue, stressing the importance of the agreements reached in the past year and a half after the intensification of negotiations, which was instigated by the first meeting of Vadim Krasnoselsky and Igor Dodon on 4 January 2017. Back then, the work of the Joint Control Commission (JCC) was deblocked. In general, peacekeeping was one of the main issues on the agenda of the meeting of the two presidents. The Moldovan president said that he considered a peacekeeping operation on the Dniester successful, stressing its stabilising role. As for technical aspects, they, according to Igor Dodon, need discussing.
The presidents highly appreciated the significance and results of today's meeting. Each of them expressed confidence in the advisability of continuing the practice of holding bilateral meetings at the highest level.
