Tiraspol, September, 6. /Novosti Pridnestrovya/. The Republic of Moldova creates new problems in relations with the Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic in order not to solve the obligations undertaken in the negotiation process. This is how the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the PMR Vitaly Ignatiev commented on the closure by Moldovan banks of the Pridnestrovian enterprises` correspondent accounts.
In June, Moldovan banks began to refuse the PMR enterprises to open accounts. On the eve of September 5, a banking organization in which the accounts of Pridnestrovian economic agents were opened informed them of the operations blocking. Thus, enterprises of the republic are not able to carry out transactions with foreign partners.
Ignatiev called it the coordinated actions of the banking system of Moldova, "which are impossible without installations from above." Thus, as the PMR Foreign Minister stressed, the Moldovan side is destroying the mechanism that the European Commission has formed for the participation of Pridnestrovian enterprises in foreign economic activity.
“For a long time, economic agents worked in a completely transparent regime, including with the countries of the European Union, in European markets. In order for this mechanism to be possible, we conducted difficult negotiations. At first, we had a regime of autonomous trade preferences, then it was transformed into a special regime. And one of the conditions for this work was interaction as transparent as possible at all levels, including the banking sector. The Moldovan side is destroying the mechanism that the European Commission formed for the participation of Pridnestrovian enterprises in foreign economic activity, which is recognized by everyone as successful,” the PMR Foreign Minister said.
He emphasized that the banking problem worsened on the eve of holding meetings in the “5 + 2” format, where the parties had to show concrete results in the negotiations.
The National Bank of Moldova (NBM) began to restrict the activities of Pridnestrovian banks since 2002, forcing them out of the financial market of Moldova.
In 2011, at the request of Chisinau, the US Federal Treasury issued a document urging US banks to exercise caution when making payments involving Pridnestrovian financial institutions. This affected the timing, delay, and sometimes the refusal to conduct operations.
After that, the only way out of the situation was the opening by Pridnestrovian enterprises of direct accounts in banks of Moldova. This was recommended by international mediators in the negotiations on the Moldovan-Pridnestrovian settlement.
