Moldovan vice premier calls for OSCE active involvement in solving current issues of Transnistrian settlement

Chisinau, 11 May /MOLDPRES/ – Deputy Prime Minister, Cristina Lesnic, has met today with the Special Representative of the OSCE Chairmanship – in – Office on behalf of Slovakia for the Transnistrian settlement process, Franco Frattini, who is paying a working in Moldova, accompanied by the Head of the OSCE Mission to Moldova, Claus Neukirch, ambassadors of Slovakia and Italy in Moldova, Dušan Dacho and Valeria Biagiotti, as well as OSCE diplomats and the Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs of Slovakia, the office for reintegration policy’s information and media communication service has reported.

During the meeting, there were reviewed the dynamics marked in implementing priorities included in the Berlin Plus package and in negotiation platforms, as well as a number of current issues that require increased attention and a speedy solution.

The vice Premier spoke about the full functionality of the apostille mechanism of diplomas of study in the region (257 diplomas being apostiled to date, most requested state of destination being Italy), continuity of the process of claiming access to agricultural land in the Dubasari district (about 90 per cent being provided the appropriate documentation), interesting tendency to change the driving licences in national models, which practically doubled in recent four months compared to the number of registered vehicles, mentioning the Chisinau initiative to ensure the processing parallels of both online and live line formulations.

It was also pointed out the necessity of completing the technical expertise and repairs of the bridge at locality Gura Bacului with organisational and financial assistance from OSCE Mission and EU Delegation to Moldova, as well as the indispensability of providing equitable access to education for pupils in regional schools with Romanian language teaching, solving the issue of their own premises and continuous monitoring of situation as to fulfill fully the commitments assumed in negotiations.

It has been reiterated that the problem of free movement between both banks of the Dniester river has to be solved unconditionally, with removal of existing barriers to the movement of ordinary people, officials, journalists, human rights promoters, etc. and exclusion of alleged preventive notification regime or completion of so – called migration card when crossing administrative line.

The Special Representative was notified of the concerns of Chisinau upon provocative actions of Tiraspol against village Varnita in Anenii Noi district, with the call for active involvement of representatives of mediators and observers in their immediate settlement, including the part concerning the annulment of those – some acts of the Tiraspol leader in October 2018 and January 2019 and alleged vignette charges applied abusively to Moldovan drivers.

The deputy PM also referred to the encountered difficulties in ensuring the protection of human rights in the Transnistrian region and access of representatives of the Ombudsman's national institution to providing assistance to those whose fundamental rights and freedoms were violated, highlighting the need to mobilise efforts with involvement of international partners in negotiation format 5+2 so as to improve the situation in this area.

In the context of human rights issue, it was outlined the positive initiative of the Moldovan side to finalise and implement in the near future a viable mechanism for documenting civil status facts from the eastern districts of Moldova, aiming  to contribute to guaranteeing the protection of children's rights in the region.

Also, there were addressed existing issues in Security Zone (ZS) and those related to the Cobasna depot, specifying the need to combine efforts to monitor continuously the situation in perimetre of responsibility of peacekeeping forces, document and solve optimally, each incident, as well as priority liquidation of ammunition stocks that pose a threat to the environment and health of population, including the non – transportable ones.

The deputy PM reiterated that, as agreed in the Declaration on the Transnistrian conflict settlement process in format 5+2 adopted on 07 December 2018 at the meeting of the OSCE Council of Ministers in Milan, the party Moldovan Government will insist on parallel approach to the process of negotiations on all three existing kites, including humanitarian and security and status issues.

In the course of the dialogue, the officials have agreed that the productive dynamics initiated in 2018 will be ensured during 2019, with the aim of achieving tangible results for the benefit of the inhabitants on both banks of the Dniester, maintaining the productive interaction in all platforms' dialogue, including at technical level, within sectoral working groups as well as agreeing organisation in perspective future of a potential documentation visit to Moldova of the representatives of mediators and observers.

At the meeting end, the officials held a press briefing where they answered the questions put by mass media.