Meeting of the Deputy Prime Minister for Reintegration with the Special Representative of the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office for the Transnistrian Settlement Process

Deputy Prime Minister for Reintegration Oleg Serebrian met with the Special Representative of the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office for the Transnistrian Settlement Process Thomas Mayr-Harting.

The officials discussed current issues on the Transnistrian settlement process. In this context, there was an exchange of views on the current dialogue between Chisinau and Tiraspol, as well as on the prospects for advancing the negotiation process.

At the same time, the Deputy Prime Minister pointed out some pressing issues in the region. In this sense, the current meteorological conditions reveal the major importance of the coordinated and rational use of water resources in the Nistru River. While the Ukrainian partners are honoring the contractual obligations regarding the control of the river's water flow, the Dubasari Hydroelectric Dam generates some problems, which have a negative impact on the water level on the lower course of the Nistru River.

It was pointed out that Tiraspol extended the free access of farmers from the Dubasari district to their agricultural lands only until the 31 of August, while the farmers need the certainty of permanent and unconditional access to their land, in accordance with the commitments of the Protocol Decision dated 25 November 2017.

Of particular concern was the critical situation regarding the human rights violations in the eastern districts of the country, especially in the context of Tiraspol's recent approach to criminalize petitioners or residents of the region who notify the competent authorities of the Republic of Moldova on such abuses in the region. This state of affairs is unacceptable and inadmissible as stipulated by the standards of international law.

The Deputy Prime Minister underlined the openness of Chisinau to build a dialogue based on trust and amicable overcoming of pressing issues by using all existing dialogue platforms and by directing the efforts towards achieving the goal of peaceful and comprehensive settlement of the Transnistrian conflict within the sovereign and fully reintegrated state – the Republic of Moldova.

The OSCE Special Representative was called upon to make an active and substantial contribution to reach a tangible development on the addressed issues.