Moldovan delegation attends first round of five-plus-two negotiations in Berlin, in 2016

Chisinau, 3 June /MOLDPRES/-After a two-year break, a new official meeting of the permanent conference on political problems in the Transnistrian settlement process (five-plus-two format negotiations), was held in Berlin, Germany, on 2-3 June, the Bureau for Reintegration has reported.

Special Representative of Germany’s chairmanship of OSCE, Ambassador Cord Meier-Klodt chaired the meeting.

Deputy Prime Minister for Reintegration Gheorghe Balan headed Moldova’s delegation.

The agenda of the meeting focused on the political boosting of the activity of sector working groups; examination of the non-paper on the promotion of negotiations, formulated by Russia; discussing actions to be taken to organize the “Confidence building measures in the Transnistrian conflict settlement" conference, in Bavaria.

The participants in the event touched upon the activity of sector working groups and their results, approaching especially subjects they have agreed upon previously, and namely, the apostille of Transnistrian higher education diplomas; finding a practical solution to ensure the international traffic of vehicles with Transnistrian number plates; restoration of phone connection between both banks of Dniester; development of interaction in the environment protection field. They have also led consultations on other current matters. Participants in negotiations emphasized the need to politically boost up the activity of sector experts on both banks of Dniester to speed up the process and carry out technical proposals to settle current problems, in direct collaboration with both Moldovan and Transnistrian political representatives.

During the meeting, Russia’s representative unveiled an unofficial view on the re-launch of the five-plus-two negotiations, further discussed by the participants. The Moldovan delegation reiterated the need to observe the provisions of the framework-document on “Principles and procedures of negotiations during the permanent conference on political matters within the Transnistrian conflict settlement,” signed on 18 April 2012.

In the context of the preparations for the next conference on promotion of confidence-building measures, due in Berlin, in mid-July and also to achieve visible results, the sides agreed to take joint enhanced efforts and find solutions to a string of problems the population on both banks of Dniester is facing.

At the end of the negotiations, participants signed a protocol on the formalization of the activities. They also gave a video briefing and answered questions.

(Editor A. Raileanu)