New Year breakthrough

The results of the talks in Vienna in the "5 + 2" format, their perspectives formed the basis for the discussion that took place during the session of the Commission of the Supreme Council on Foreign Policy and International Relations. Foreign Minister Vitaly Ignatiev took part in its work. He informed the people's representatives about the content and results of the round of negotiations in Vienna in the "5 + 2" format. The fact that it was conducted can be considered an achievement, because during this year, when Austria was presided, diplomats invariably put forward preconditions for such a meeting to take place.

According to Vitaly Ignatyev, during this year, 30 meetings of members of expert groups in various areas, 9 meetings of political representatives of Pridnestrovie and Moldova were held. Only the subject of participation of Pridnestrovian transport in the international automobile movement was devoted to 9 meetings, solving problems in the telecommunications sphere - 5.

Participants in the talks in Vienna focused on the discussion of the implementation of the paragraphs of the Berlin Protocol, which was signed June 3 last year. The agenda includes issues that are exclusively economic and social. No political issues were raised in the Austrian capital, the topic of determining the status of Pridnestrovie was not discussed. What to discuss, if the status of the PMR was determined by its people during the referendum September 17, 2006 - the independence of the republic and its further membership in the Russian Federation. At the same time, the Russian side once again raised the issue of enshrining a mechanism of guarantees for the agreements reached by the parties in the practice of the negotiation process. To this, a year was given to the participants of the international format "5 + 2".

For the time being, the issue of ending politically motivated criminal cases, as well as the issue of car numbers, remains unresolved. Although in the latter aspect, an agreement was reached on resolving this problem by the end of February. In Vienna, representatives of the Pridnestrovian delegation brought concerns of Pridnestrovie to international mediators by establishing joint Moldovan-Ukrainian border and customs posts on its borders.

After hearing the information, members of the parliamentary commission asked the head of the foreign affairs department a lot of questions concerning the apostillization of the PSU diplomas, the position in the negotiation process of Ukraine, the attitude of the Foreign Ministry to the appearance in Moldova of the next plan for settling the Pridnestrovian issue, land use problems in the Dubossary region, and guarantees for the implementation of the reached agreements.

As the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the PMR informed, in Vienna he met with the official representative of the Italian Foreign Ministry, who next year will take over Austria the chairmanship of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe.

Later, during the meeting of the parliamentary commission on foreign policy and international relations, deputies discussed the prospects for the development of the foreign policy situation around Pridnestrovie, as well as the components of the plan for interaction between the Supreme Council and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.