Tiraspol, November 5. /Novosti Pridnestrovya/. The updated draft protocol decision on the participation of freight and passenger vehicles from Pridnestrovie in international road traffic is fundamentally no different from the document that the representatives of the PMR presented to the Moldovan side back in October 2019. At the same time, it is broader and covers the Pridnestrovian position on the issues that Tiraspol and Chisinau have discussed over the past two months.
“Vladislav Kulminsky (already a former political representative of the Republic of Moldova in the negotiation process - ed.), in the context of the participation of Pridnestrovian cargo and passenger transport in international traffic, was interested in issues of competition, taxes, excise taxes, import duties, permits for international transportation. We shared information on our vision of how to resolve these issues,” the PMR Ministry of Foreign Affairs commented to the Novosti Pridnestrovya news agency.
“Actually, the draft protocol decision has remained the same as before. We suggest registering cargo and passenger vehicles at the vehicle registration points (VRS). There are provisions related to checking the technical condition of buses and trucks, with the need for the Moldovan side to address the parties to the Vienna Convention on Road Traffic of November 8, 1968, indicating who can register cargo-passenger transport, what numbers and certificates will be issued, how to cooperate the customs authorities of Pridnestrovie and Moldova on newly imported trucks and buses,” our diplomatic source said, expressing the hope that the Moldovan side will begin substantive discussion of the proposed document in the near future.
Since September 1 of this year, Ukraine, at the request of the Moldovan authorities, has introduced a ban on entry for cars with Pridnestrovian license plates. After that, a transport crisis broke out, which became the subject of intensive negotiations between Tiraspol and Chisinau in recent months. So far, these negotiations have been going on without any particular results.
Due to the ban, small-sized trucks that delivered goods to Pridnestrovian individual entrepreneurs, as well as companies engaged in passenger transportation in the PMR, have been seriously affected. According to the President of the Union of Industrialists, Agrarians and Entrepreneurs of Pridnestrovie Yury Cheban, the total losses from the road blockade to date have exceeded $ 6 million.
The PMR Ministry of Foreign Affairs proposes to establish a mechanism by which a cargo-passenger vehicle could receive neutral license plates in the vehicle registration points like a private one. However, the Moldovan side is still delaying the resolution of this issue.
The updated draft protocol decision on the participation of cargo and passenger transport from Pridnestrovie in international road traffic was presented to Chisinau on Wednesday, November 3.
