SIDES VIEW SOME QUESTIONS DIFFERENTLY, SAYS TRANSNISTRIAN NEGOTIATOR

So far, the Republic of Moldova and the Transnistrian Moldovan Republic [PMR] fail to reach a consensus on a number of questions of principal importance in their relationship, Transnistria’s chief negotiator and minister of foreign affairs Vitaly Ignatiev stated to PMR president Vadim Krasnoselsky on Wednesday.

Reporting to the president on the measures being taken to resolve the problem of admitting Transnistrian motor vehicles to the international road traffic, Vitaly Ignatiev said that the sides’ profiled expert groups meet almost daily. On Tuesday, for instance, such a meeting was held in Chisinau with the participation of the Sides’ Political Representatives and international experts.

“There is a conceptual scheme we are working at. And there are certain positions of the sides. The chief problem is that the Moldovan side would not agree to accept a non-discriminative approach to things. For instance, Chisinau is not ready yet to regard all residents of Transnistria as equal-right participants of the international road traffic – irrespective of their civil or legal status”, said Transnistria’s chief negotiator.

According to him, there are also differences in approaches to questions related to determining the rules of work of vehicle registration stations.

The next meeting of the expert groups will be held in Chisinau on Thursday. And on Friday, Tiraspol will host a consultative meeting with the participation of the Political Representatives, Ignatiev said to president Krasnoselsky.

Reporting on the progress in resolving the bank question, Ignatiev said the sides stand ready to look for a way out of the current impasse, and the profiled working group will start working in the nearest future.

“Today, the representatives of the Transnistrian government and foreign ministry met with Anna Akhalkatsi, the World Bank Country Manager for Moldova, who came to Tiraspol for the first time. We determined perspective parameters of our cooperation. I highlighted inter-bank interaction as one of the directions where World Bank experts could join the work. The Transnistrian side has already prepared a package of recommendations”, said Vitaly Ignatiev.

Krasnoselsky and Ignatiev discussed the forthcoming (March 27) visit to Transnistria of a delegation of the Italian OSCE Presidency to be led by OSCE Special Representative on Transnistria Franco Frattini.