Moldovan, Serbian officials tackle cooperation, challenges, support

Chisinau, 5 December /MOLDPRES/ - Deputy Prime Minister, Foreign and European Integration Minister Natalia Gherman met Serbian Minister of Foreign Affairs Ivica Dacic and OSCE High Commissioner on National Minorities Astrid Thors in Basel today, the Foreign and European Integration Ministry’s information and media communication service has reported.

Gherman and Dacic discussed the cooperation priorities in the context of Serbia taking over the OSCE chairmanship in 2015. The officials underlined the importance to provide special attention to present challenges to security in the OSCE space, in particular to unsolved conflicts. Natalia Gherman informed Ivica Dacic about the Transnistrian conflict settlement process. In the context, the sides highlighted the need to overcome the blockage within the five-plus-two talks and re-include political issues on its agenda.

For his part, Ivica Dacic confirmed willingness to provide support necessary to promote the settlement process and informed about his intention to visit Moldova in the first quarter of 2015.

At the meeting with Astrid Thors, Natalia Gherman reviewed the main cooperation areas, including the integration of national minorities and problems faced by the Moldova-run Latin-script schools from Transnistria. Gherman underlined that the Moldovan authorities would continue efforts in order to integrate the national minorities in the Moldovan society, by observing the international standards in the field. She stressed that the continuous cooperation with office of the high commissioner was an important aspect in this respect. At the same time, Natalia Gherman emphasised the need to identify a sustainable solution, which would allow a normal work of the Transnistria-based Moldova-run schools, with OSCE due to play a basic role in talks on this issue.