The second working meeting in the current year of the political representatives in the negotiation process for the Transnistrian settlement took place in Bender
On Friday, May 17, 2024, the political representatives in the negotiation process for Transnistrian settlement of Chișinău and Tiraspol, Oleg Serebrian and Vitalii Ignatiev, held a working meeting at the Bender office of the OSCE Mission to the Republic of Moldova.
The main negotiator from Chișinău stressed the need for Tiraspol to cancel abusive decisions regarding the illegal imposition of taxes and restrictions that make it difficult to carry out agricultural works, harvest the crops, unimpeded storage and transportation of the agricultural products, seed material and necessary equipment to/from the land lots, located beyond the „Râbnița-Tiraspol” road.
The difficulties faced by the eight schools with Romanian language teaching in the Transnistrian region were also reiterated, with the request to solve the problem related to the return/offering of their own premises, which should be appropriate for the educational process, the reduction of utility charges at the level of 2023, the renunciation of unauthorized processing of personal data and the practice of submitting subpoenas for the military records of pupils.
The situation of illegal detainees in the Transnistrian region was brought to the discussion once more. The release of Victor Pleșcanov, held in detention in Tiraspol unjustly for almost two years for expressing his own position on the war in Ukraine, was welcomed. Other cases of resonance concerning the citizens Ermurachi M., Dimov Al., Dudnic Vl., Menzarari S. and others were mentioned. It has been repeatedly called for the unconditional release of these citizens, the restoration of their fundamental rights, as well as access to their location of representatives of the Ombudsperson’s Office, OSCE and human rights defenders.
Regarding Tiraspol’s claims regarding the procedure of imports and exports of various categories of goods (medicines, radiological equipment, industrial and strategic goods) it has been explained once more that the authorization, customs clearance and issuing of competent decisions for the respective categories of goods is ensured on equal terms for all companies on both banks of the Nistru River, according to the rigors of the normative framework, with the assurance of the approved safety and quality standards.
Regarding the continued politicization by the Tiraspol negotiator of the subject of customs and environmental payments applied in the light of the provisions of the new legislation of the Republic of Moldova connected to the European Union standards, it was stated that these requirements are valid in a uniform and non-discriminatory manner for all economic agents on both banks of the Nistru River, who carry out licensed activities, based on the permissive acts and with the carrying out of commercial operations through the customs control posts of the Republic of Moldova.
On the subject regarding the registration of non-commercial means of transport from the region with neutral plates in the subdivisions located in the cities of Tiraspol and Râbnița, it was highlighted that this mechanism is applicable within the limits established by the legislation of the Republic of Moldova and the Vienna Convention on Road Traffic of 8 November 1968.
Deputy Prime Minister for Reintegration Oleg Serebrian noted the importance of maintaining dialogue in the formats of interaction existing between Chișinău and Tiraspol in order to stimulate the activities of sectoral working groups, expressing a proposal to hold new meetings of experts in the field of education, ecology, human rights, and civil status acts.
