RUSSIA, UKRAINE, OSCE TRANSNISTRIAN SETTLEMENT MEDIATORS MEET IN SOFIA
Unofficial translation from Russian
PRESS RELEASE
On October 11-12, at the initiative of the Bulgarian Chairmanship-in-Office of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE C-in-O), a meeting of the mediators in Transnistrian settlement from Russia, Ukraine and the OSCE was held in Sofia, in which Russian MFA Ambassador at Large Valery Nesterushkin took part. The OSCE C-in-O Special Representative for Transnistrian Settlement, ex-Bulgarian President Petar Stoyanov was present at the co-mediators' consultations. The participants were received by Solomon Pasi, OSCE Chairman-in-Office and Bulgarian Minister of Foreign Affairs.
The main attention at the meeting was devoted to a review of the situation in the region since the Republic of Moldova delegation's suspension this past July of its participation in the talks as well as to a discussion of what steps can possibly be taken to restart a normal negotiating process.
The Joint Statement issued expresses serious concern over the pause that has arisen in work on the preparation of a comprehensive political solution to the Transnistrian problem, contains an appeal to the parties to refrain from any further unilateral actions capable of complicating the present not simple situation even more, and notes the progress made through the mediators' efforts in solving a number of practical matters relating to the so called school problem.
There was re-emphasized the need for the speediest resumption of dialogue between Chisinau and Tiraspol in order to continue the search for ways of a settlement on the basis of the preservation of the territorial integrity of the Republic of Moldova and determination of a special status for Transnistria. The initiative of the OSCE Chairman-in-Office to soon organize consultations of the co-mediators from Russia, Ukraine and the OSCE with the representatives of the Republic of Moldova and Transnistria with a view to considering the possibilities of a way out of the present impasse received a positive assessment in this context.
October 13, 2004
