First working meeting of political representatives in the negotiation process for Transnistrian settlement in 2024
Today, 16 January 2024, the Tiraspol headquarters of the OSCE Mission to Moldova hosted this year’s first working meeting of political representatives in the negotiation process for Transnistrian settlement from Chișinău and Tiraspol, Oleg Serebrian and Vitalii Ignatiev.
The chief negotiator from Chișinău stressed the need to identify viable solutions to the most pressing problems of residents on both banks of the Nistru River, avoiding unilateral and discriminatory actions regarding farmers in Dubăsari district, schools teaching in Romanian, officials from the territorial subdivisions of the public authorities of the Republic of Moldova located in the Security Zone and other categories of citizens.
It was stressed that improving the very complicated human rights situation in the Transnistrian region requires permanent attention, calling for positive dynamics on resonance cases (Pleșcanov V., Dimov Al., Menzarari S., Dudnic V., Ermurachi M.), as well as for respecting their fundamental rights and freedoms, including qualified medical care.
Regarding the considerations raised by the political representative from Tiraspol on the provisions of the new Customs Code of the Republic of Moldova and the payments for environment pollution applied to economic agents in the Transnistrian region, it was mentioned that these requirements are meant to gradually bring the activity of these entrepreneurs into the national legal field, respecting the rules of fair competition and the commitments undertaken by the Republic of Moldova at international level.
It was also stated that these rules do not cover the fiscal component, they provide fair conditions of activity to the business environment on both banks that can benefit from the facilities offered to the Republic of Moldova through the bi- and multilateral agreements in force, including in the part related to the EU’s trade preferences.
With regard to the licensing of the activity of enterprises in the region and the authorisation of import-export transactions of the various categories of goods carried out by them, including goods that are qualified as dual purpose or medical equipment generating ionising radiation, it was reminded that the difficulties encountered in this process can be overcome as a result of compliance with the requirements laid down by the national legislation in force and safety requirements, on the ground assessment of conformity and quality criteria.
The topic of the functionality of the vehicle registration points in the cities of Tiraspol and Râbnița was on the agenda of discussions as well, and in this context Chisinau highlighted the availability of ensuring an efficient working regime of these territorial subdivisions, with the increase of the dynamics of documentation with neutral model plates of vehicles in the region.
Chișinău and Tiraspol expressed the openness to intensify interaction in the working format of political representatives and sectoral working groups, with healthcare experts expected to be convened in the near future.
