Access to agricultural land in Dubasari district restored from 1 August 2018

Chisinau, 1 August /MOLDPRES/- In accordance with the Protocol Decision "On some measures to regulate the problems related to the implementation of the 2006 Mechanism on the use of agricultural land located in Dubasari along Tiraspol - Camenca route" of 25 November 2017 and in accordance with the provisions p.6 of the protocol of the 5+2 negotiation format held in Rome on 29-30 May 2018, the 2006 Mechanism is restored starting from 1 August 2018.

According to the Bureau for Reintegration, in the process of restoring the access to agricultural land, a complex and extensive one, where the process covered 6494.9 ha and about 5,561 landowners, by 1 August 2018, received 99 certificates for access to possession, use, processing of agricultural land for an area of 5241,68 hectares and 19 certificates being issued for an area of 48 hectares for transmitting them to the beneficiaries, which represents about 82 per cent of the total area processed.

The certificates are currently issued to individual owners who plan to personally process land or people who rented land.

The certificates for access to agricultural land are issued on the basis of the cadastral acts issued by the constitutional bodies of the Republic of Moldova and which confirm the right of ownership or lease.

Thanks to the efforts made by the Moldovan side in the negotiation process, unlike in 2006, the extension of the term from 1 year to 20 years has been achieved in order to ensure sustainability of the process and of investments. This will allow from 1 August landowners to plan the planting of multi-annual crops and the possibility of using agricultural machinery for land-use works.

The 2006 mechanism, restored under the conditions agreed in the negotiation process during 2017-2018, implies that these procedures will be continuous.

During the 6 months of 2018, Chisinau Chief Negotiator Cristina Lesnic and representatives of the Reintegration Policy Bureau paid about 23 visits to Dubasari district for talks with mayors, economic agents, other landowners, to provide support to facilitate and simplify the process, as well as to provide the interface in the process of restoring this mechanism.

The 2006 mechanism is being implemented from 1 August 2018, which additionally involves access to agricultural land, free passage of technique for processing land, sowing, harvesting and transporting agricultural production without impediments or other restrictions.

Thus, work on restoring this mechanism under a prolonged term requires monitoring and verification of full implementation without any additional or unforeseen conditionality.

The Moldovan government provided for 2014-2018 partial compensation of the expenses incurred by farmers amounting to 45 million lei, of which in 2017-2018 allocating about 16 million lei.

The fulfilment of the positive obligations by the government in relation to the farmers was also reflected in the ECHR decision Sandu and others versus Moldova and the Russian Federation. When restricting access to agricultural land, the Chisinau authorities have given the necessary support to restore the situation.

The Moldovan side will insist that the free movement of farmers is fully ensured and will continue the dialogue so that landowners fully enjoy the right of ownership.