Three protocol decisions signed in Kiev negotiations

Three protocol decisions were signed during this year’s final round of 5+2 format negotiations on Transnistrian conflict settlement, which ended in Kiev on Tuesday night.   

According to the Republic of Moldova Bureau for Country Reintegration, the parties signed agreements in the field of pensions and social allowances that provide for social guarantees to Transnistria residents moving for permanent residence over to the mainland Moldova, and vice versa. Also, an agreement was signed on a project for rehabilitation of the municipal sewage systems in the towns of Dubossary [left Dniester River bank] and Criuleni [right bank], which document should permit to mobilize foreign financial assistance for this project.   

According to the Transnistrian ministry of foreign affairs, the parties welcomed the German Government’s readiness to finance the preparation of a feasibility project for reconstruction of the above-mentioned sewage treatment stations. The decision on financing such rehabilitation project was announced by German diplomats at the Conference on trust-building measures that was held in Landshut (Germany) last October.     

At a final video conference after the Kiev round of talks, Moldova’s Political Representative at the Transnistria negotiations, Deputy Prime Minister for Reintegration Affairs Eugen Carpov said that discussions in Kiev were held “in accordance with the substantial agenda that included topical questions on all of the three packages”.    

“We discussed provision of necessary conditions for a free movement of people from both Dniester sides, perspectives of the opening of the Gura Bicului/Bicioc Bridge across the Dniester. The parties touched also on economic problems pertaining to interaction between the river sides in the context of creating a deep and comprehensive free trade area with the European Union, promotion of dialog in the framework of a Forum of civil society and media in Chisinau and Tiraspol, as well as the forming of a sub-group that would report the creation of a free trade zone so that all economic operators, from both banks, could avail themselves of such possibility”, said the Moldovan deputy prime minister.     

The forum discussed the need to launch without delay the dismantling of the old unused cable car across the Dniester between the Moldovan town of Rezina and Transnistrian town of Rybnitsa. The decision on the cable car question was negotiated and agreed upon yet at the Odessa round of talks last May, but the works proper would not be started until now.   

Transnistria’s chief negotiator, minister of foreign affairs Nina Shtanski highly appreciated Ukraine’s OSCE presidency in 2013 but remarked that, unfortunately, some plans, projected at the beginning of the year, failed to be realized.    

“For quite long this year, Moldova was remaining in a domestic political crisis. Besides this, there existed a number of unsolved questions that were an obstacle to the regular meetings of the sides’ political representatives. The Ukrainian diplomacy was successful in maintaining the negotiation parties in a working shape”, said Nina Shtanski.   

Reviewing the results of the year, she said that the decisions taken corresponded to the known tactics of small steps. Shtanski underscored the need for resolving the question of providing Transnistrian companies with Chisinau’s permissive documents for international freight and passenger transportation.    

The incumbent OSCE Special Representative for the Protracted Conflicts, Ambassador-at-Large Andrii Deshchytsia said that the dialog, which was started under the auspices of the Ukrainian OSCE presidency, will be necessarily continued and that Ukraine stands ready to render assistance to the forthcoming 2-year-long joint presidency of Serbia and Switzerland in the OSCE.   

Next such forum has been scheduled for February 2014 in Chisinau and Tiraspol under the auspices of the Serbian/Swiss OSCE presidency.   

Adapted from Infotag