Moldova participates in meeting of sub-committee on conflicts of Parliamentary Assembly of Council of Europe

Chisinau, 17 January /MOLDPRES/ - A delegation of Moldova, led by the head of the parliamentary faction of the Democratic Party (PDM), Marian Lupu, made up of the head of the parliamentary faction of the Party of Communists (PCRM), Inna Supac and Head of the Reintegration Policies Bureau Gheorghe Balan, on 16 January participated in a meeting of the Sub-committee on conflicts between Council of Europe member states of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) in Paris.    

According to the Reintegration Polices Bureau, the works of the meeting were led by the chairman of the sub-committee, Stefan Schennach, and were focused on tackling the political dimension of the Transnistrian settlement process, with the involvement in the discussion process of the former special representative of the OSCE chairmanship-in-office for the Transnistrian conflict settlement, Wolf Dietrich Heim,  Director for Russia, Eastern Partnership, Central Asia, Regional Cooperation and OSCE of the European External Action Service Luc Devigne, the political representative in the process of negotiations on the Transnistrian settlement on behalf of Tiraspol, Vitaly Ignatyev, the head of the so-called supreme soviet from the Transnistrian region, Aleksandr Shcherba, as well as representatives of the civil society from both banks of Dniester.  

It is worth mentioning that a similar initiative by the Council of Europe (CoE), with intention to ensure also the presence of Tiraspol representatives in the meeting of the aforementioned sub-committee on 21 September 2015, was not accomplished in the format scheduled.   

Participants in the event reviewed recent developments recorded in the process of talks on the Transnistrian settlement, efforts made by Chisinau and Tiraspol to advance the dialogue, positive actions undertaken by Moldova’s authorities to settle the most pressing problems faced by the residents from the country’s eastern districts. The participants also exchanged opinions and ideas on possibility to boost the settlement process, give an impetus to activities in all current dialogue platforms and enhance the efficiency of the negotiations.    

The participants in the discussions unveiled priorities of Chisinau and Tiraspol for 2018 and actions due to be undertaken to this end. The Moldovan delegation noted that, on the next period, efforts would be made to maintain all channels of dialogue open and functional, with focus on the process of implementing the earlier reached agreements and agreeing upon pragmatic solutions to other topical subjects on the agenda of talks, initiating new positive measures in relation to the residents from both banks of Dniester, carrying out measures meant to ensure the protection of human rights in the Transnistrian region.   

It is worth to be mentioned that, under a decision on foundation of the sub-committee on conflicts, the concerned meetings represent a platform of discussion, for which the CoE principles and standards on democracy, law enforcement and safeguarding the human rights are explored. The goal of the sub-committee is to facilitate the coordination and harmonization of the approaches and not to provide alternative solutions to the already established mechanisms of settling the conflict. Also, the Sub-committee is meant to back the work of the actors involved in the process, in order to promote the mechanisms agreed upon.