Transnistria and Gagauzia

​TIRASPOL COUNTS ON EU’S AND EUBAM’S ASSISTANCE IN “DE-BLOCKING TRANSNISTRIAN ECONOMY”

21 april, 2015

Measures of economic pressure on Transnistria are inadmissible, and the Transnistrian side is counting on a more constructive role to be played by the European Union and a more responsible approach by the EUBAM [European Union Border Assistance Mission to Moldova and Ukraine], Transnistrian minister of foreign affairs Nina Shtanski stated in her meeting on Thursday with Ambassador Pirkka Tapiola, Head of the European Union Delegation to the Republic of Moldova, and with EUBAM Head Francesco Bastagli.

Shtanski highlighted the headlong aggravation of economic situation in Transnistria due to the strengthening economic blockade by Ukraine and Moldova, and stressed that Transnistria is now standing on the brink of losing its largest markets – Ukraine and the European Union.

In her words, the transit of freights via Ukraine over to Transnistria has halved, and trade with the neighboring country shrank 54% in 1Q2015 against the equivalent period of 2014.

“We would like to have an open, honest and pragmatic dialog with all our foreign partners to find economic instruments for improving people’s wellbeing and economy invigoration, and not vice versa. To our mind, instead of blackmail and pressing, it is necessary to focus on a joint quest for solutions. All the international partners, taking part in the Transnistrian conflict settlement, must bear social responsibility for what happens here”, said Transnistria’s chief negotiator.

Francesco Bastagli assured that the EUBAM certainly feels and is following this new round of aggravation of economic situation here.

“We constantly come across new challenges, some of which have a very broad character, such as e.g. the current problems in this whole region of Europe that cannot indeed help telling on the economy. We also notice that some measures were undertaken that really further worsened the situation – in addition to existing challenges”, said Francesco Bastagli.

Infotag’s dossier: Since the beginning of 2015, the Transnistrian economy has been in a particularly hard, crisis-like situation. But this is the result of not only Ukraine’s toughened control over Transnistrian freights and not because Ukraine legitimately demands that the freights must undergo customs formalization in Chisinau. The thing is, the Transnistrian authorities are using administrative leverage to hold the Transnistrian ruble currency fixed. As a result, it has become unprofitable for local exporters to run trade with foreign countries. Besides this, the depreciating Ukrainian hryvna and Russian ruble currencies have forced the Transnistrian exporters to sharply reduce their supplies to these two markets important-most for Transnistria.

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