OSCE MINISTERIAL COUNCIL CONFIRMED RESOLUTION TO ACHIEVE TRANSNISTRIAN CONFLICT SETTLEMENT ON THE BASIS OF MOLDOVA'S SOVEREIGNTY

The Council of Foreign Ministers from OSCE Member Countries has reiterated their strong resolve to attain a comprehensive, peaceful and sustainable settlement of the Transnistrian conflict based on the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Republic of Moldova within its internationally recognized borders with a special status for Transnistria that fully guarantees the human, political, economic and social rights of its population.

That was written in the "Ministerial Statement on the Negotiations on the Transnistrian Settlement Process in the "5+2" Format" held in the current year. Its authors called upon the Sides to continue to engage accordingly in the negotiation process under the Albanian OSCE Chairmanship in 2020.

The OSCE Ministerial Council commended the Sides for further consolidating the achievements reached since the Vienna Ministerial meeting on priority issues and their commitment to achieve the full implementation of all agreements expressed in the protocols of the "5+2" meetings in Rome 2018, Vienna 2017 and Berlin 2016 thus contributing to building a solid basis for further advancing the settlement process.

The Council also welcomed the steps taken by the Sides this year for facilitating unimpeded travel of officials and encouraged the Sides to develop joint proposals on further confidence-building measures.

It also called upon the Sides "to continue to work at all levels of the negotiation process in a rhythmical manner to achieve tangible progress on all three baskets of the agreed agenda for the negotiation process: socio-economic issues, general legal and humanitarian issues and human rights, and a comprehensive settlement, including institutional, political and security issues".

The Statement authors underlined the importance of the Permanent Conference on Political Issues in the Framework of the Negotiation Process for the Transnistrian Settlement in the "5+2" format "as the only mechanism to achieve a comprehensive and sustainable settlement, and reaffirm the important role the OSCE plays in supporting this process".