Moldovan deputy premier meets Foreign Ministry representatives of Germany, Slovakia

Chisinau, 1 March /MOLDPRES/ - Deputy Prime Minister Gheorghe Balan  received Director for Eastern Europe and Central Asia at the German Foreign Ministry Andreas Peschke and Ambassador-at-large at the Foreign ministry of Slovakia  Dušan Dacho at the government today. The officials were accompanied by Slovakian Ambassador to Moldova Robert Kirnag and Ambassador of Germany to Moldova Ulrike Knotz, the Bureau for Reintegration has reported.  

The diplomats showed interest in the present cabinet’s priorities, its visions in terms of Moldova’s reintegration and prospects for the process of talks on the Transnistrian settlement.

For his part, Gheorghe Balan informed the officials about the foremost goals, provided for in the government’s action programme. The deputy prime minister referred, in particular, to the strategic priority of settling the Transnistrian conflict and the country’s reintegration. In this context, Balan emphasized that the final goal pursued by the national authorities within the negotiations was to identify a sustainable political solution to this problem, by working out a special legal status for this region, on the basis of principles of Moldova’s sovereignty and territorial integrity. The Moldovan official reiterated the need to resume the five-plus-two talks, as well the negotiations in the other formats, including between sectoral working groups.   

The deputy prime minister highlighted the government’s commitment to support the residents from Moldova’s eastern districts, by extending single spaces in the region, promoting interaction between the business communities from both banks of Dniester, deepening the trade ties with EU, by ensuring a concomitant informing of the residents and enterprises from the Transnistrian region about the benefits and positive impact of the reintegration policies. Gheorghe Balan also stressed the importance the government was attaching to measures to consolidate confidence between the residents of the two banks of Dniester, and pointed out the positive results of the Bavarian conference, held in the city of Rottech-Egern on 29-30 October 2015.   

The next discussions were focused on a wide range of issues dealing with managing the Transnistrian file, among which also the situation in terms of observance of the fundamental human rights and freedoms in the region, free movement of people and transport means, developments in the Security Zone and mechanism of keeping stability within this zone, diverse technical aspects on which experts from the two banks of Dniester hold consultations (in the fields of economy, transport, ecology, etc.)  

(Editor M. Jantovan)