Moldovan and Transdnestr presidents having talks in Bendery

Read it in Russian

Today, on April 11, a meeting of president of Transdnestr and Moldova, Igor Smirnov and Vladimir Voronin, started in Bendery at noon local time (01:00 p.m. Moscow time), a REGNUM correspondent reports.

  Earlier, on April 7, 2008, the Moldovan and Transdnestr presidents had a phone talk and agreed to have a personal bilateral meeting in the near future. According to Chisinau, during the Voronin-Smirnov meeting issues regarding development and strengthening of measures of trust between Chisinau and Tiraspol were planned to be discussed. In its turn, the press office of the Transdnestr president noted that the talks were held “under an initiative of the Moldovan party,” and the subject for further discussion was a draft general agreement on friendship and cooperation between the republics, as well as Moldova’s initiatives on developing and increasing measures of trust. The presidents considered the possibility of the summit as “a powerful momentum for renewing the negotiation process.” Political representatives of the parties were given instructions to take necessary actions for comprehensive preparation of the summit.

The talks are held in the offices of the Bendery City Administration. Security measures increased in the city, part of the central square is cordoned-off for vehicles and pedestrians.

It is worth reminding, the last meeting of the Moldovan and Transdnestr leaders took place on August 8, 2001; after that they did not meet within seven years. During that time, the negotiation process took pace in the form of 5+2 (with Moldova and Transdnestr as parties in the conflicts, Russia, Ukraine and the OSCE as mediators, and the European Union and the United States as observers — REGNUM), where the parties were represented by the heads of the foreign ministries: Valery Litskai from Transdnestr and Vasily Shova from Moldova.

On February 28, 2006, the second stage of the fourth round of the Transdnestr settlement talks was held in Tiraspol in the offices of the OSCE Mission. The talks were held behind the closed doors. More than four hours after the meeting started, members of the Moldovan delegation led by Reintegration Minister Vasily Shova left the meeting. First, the head of the OSCE mission William Hill, than member of the Transdnestr delegation Alexander Porozhan tried to stop Shova from leaving. However, Vasily Shova did not give up his intention and left the talks declining comments.

On March 3, 2006, Ukrainian customs checkpoints on the border of Ukraine and Transdnestr stopped passage of goods registered by the Transdnestr customs. On March 4, 2006, railway movement of goods and passengers via Transdnestr was fully suspended. Tiraspol considered the action as an “economic blockade” and refused to continue the negotiation process until a transit protocol is signed aimed at settling the customs crisis in Transdnestr.