The PMR President met with the OSCE delegation headed by Bujar Osmani, Minister of Foreign Affairs of North Macedonia, who chairs the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe this year. The group of foreign visitors who arrived in Pridnestrovie in addition to the OSCE Chairman-in-Office included the Head of the OSCE Mission to Moldova, Kelly Keiderling, Special Representative of the OSCE Chairman-in-Office, Thomas Mayr-Harting, and other European diplomats. The PMR Foreign Minister Vitaly Ignatiev, Deputy Chairman of the PMR Supreme Council Galina Antyufeyeva and PMR Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Stetsyuk took part in the discussion from the Pridnestrovian side. The international meeting was held in Bendery, in the conference hall of the Old Bastion complex, located on the territory of the Alexander Nevsky Park.
This is the first visit of the North Macedonian Chairmanship to Pridnestrovie. It is assumed that the meeting will not be exclusively introductory. The agenda agreed upon by the parties includes the issues requiring urgent resolution. The fundamental goal is to outline ways to bring the negotiation process between Pridnestrovie and Moldova out of the deepest stagnation. If it was about the need to intensify the peaceful dialogue and direct it towards the practical implementation of the agreements earlier, tools for a restart are needed now. The format of the “Permanent Conference…” has been idle for the fourth year. The Polish Chairmanship of the past year failed to change the situation for the better. Moreover, it has aggravated noticeably. The participants of today's meeting outlined the focus on constructive interaction and expressed the hope that the current year will be more fruitful.
The issues requiring discussion: increased pressure from Moldova that intensified with the closure of the Pridnestrovian-Ukrainian border; banking and financial blockade; transport and logistics, foreign economic, administrative and bureaucratic restrictions that disturb the interests, rights and freedoms of citizens of Pridnestrovie and business entities of the republic; militarization of Moldova; attempts to discredit the current peacekeeping format and the desire to replace it; adoption by the neighboring state of the norms of criminal legislation provoking the persecution of citizens of Pridnestrovie for political reasons.
