End of customs blockade? US wants free movement of goods and services

2006: Trucks with international aid arrived in Tiraspol following the "economic blockade" and the loss of $500m in foreign trade

TIRASPOL (Tiraspol Times) - At the OSCE Permanent Council on 22 March 2007, US officials, commenting on the Moldovan-Transnistrian situation, urged free trade to resume as soon as possible. Specifically, a declaration was made public calling for the abolishment of "all obstacles on the way to free movement of people, goods, and services."

However, in American diplomacy, the usage of the word "all" turned out to be somewhat different than how the word is normally understood by ordinary folks.

In a Clintonesque interpretation of semantics, closer reading of the statement revealed that "all" only refers to minor obstacles supposedly put in place by one side in the conflict, but not to a set of significantly more damaging obstacles put in place by the other.

US and Moldovan officials called on the PMR government to eliminate "all obstacles on the way to free movement of people, goods, and services." Pointedly, the statement did not address the obstacles put in place by Moldova to free movement of goods from Transnistria, causing many in the unrecognized country to doubt the seriousness of US public diplomacy.

" - Doublespeak," was the derisive comment by a TV commentator in Tiraspol, while others compared the US State Department to a George Orwell style "Ministry of Truth" ('1984') as well as to the place where "everyone is equal but some are more equal than others" ('Animal Farm').

Customs regulations targeting Transnistria and put in place at Moldova's urging in March of 2006 have, according to official government statistics, already hindered free trade and the movement of goods to the tune of USD $500 million in the first year alone.

In comparison, no similar losses - if they exist - have ever been quantified by the other side: There is no similar estimate of how much Moldova loses from obstacles to its trade balance supposedly put in place by Transnistria.

US position "fails the reality check"

According to the United States / Moldova, there should be no checkpoints on the buffer zone dividing Moldova and Transnistria (the name used for Pridnestrovie in the statement). Their view is that Transnistria and Moldova is one country. But this, says a top PMR negotiator, is "so wrong on so many levels that it boggles the mind how they could even expect us to take them seriously."

" - While that may technically be defined in a strict 'de jure' sense, there is no other way you can call Moldova and Transnistria one country anymore," said the official who asked to remain anonymous. "Such a position simply fails the reality check."

" - They are majority Romanian, or Moldovan, or whatever it is they call themselves now. We have a population which is overwhelmingly majority Slavic. Our main languages are different, and we have almost no historical common past either. Moreover, for the past 17 years, we have developed independently, with each side building its own state and government institutions, with varying levels of success."

" - They founded their country in 1991, after we had already left. We founded our country in 1990. They never asked if we wanted to be part of their country. But when we made it clear that we did not want to, they simply invaded us. They attacked us in 1992, bombed us, and don't forget: Most of the victims in that war took place on our side. Most of the refugees, too, who left for Russia and Ukraine, but not for Moldova."

" - Today, the existence of two small, separate countries is a very real fact of life. Go to Chisinau, and go to Tiraspol, and compare. No one who does that can still claim that there is one single country. The facts, if you are true to yourself and true to reality, is that there are two different countries. One is recognized, and the other is not. But Moldova and the other countries can keep denying reality until they are blue in the face. That doesn't make us any less real. We exist, and we will keep existing because that is what the people who live here have decided. Deal with it."

Breach of prior commitments

The 5+2 negotiations to settle Moldova's territorial claim on Transnistria is composed of the two sides, Moldova and Transnistria (Pridnestrovie), with Ukraine, Russia, OSCE as mediators and with representatives from the EU and the USA participating as outside observers.

The scheduled talks were suspended 28 February 2006 when the Moldovan delegation abruptly left the talks, only to launch the Ukraine/Moldova customs regulations later that same week, on 3 March 2006. Since then, further attempts to organize a new round have failed with Tiraspol stating that it does not participate under conditions of economic blackmail.

The main document governing the talks is a memorandum signed between the sides on 8 May 1997, known as the Primakov Memorandum. Its full title is "Memorandum On the bases for Normalisation of Relations between the Republic of Moldova and the Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic."

The memorandum's first and most important point is that "the Parties reaffirm their commitment not to resort to the use of force or the threat of force in their mutual relations. Any differences shall be resolved exclusively by peaceful means, through negotiations."

Tiraspol's position is that the use of economic pressure by Moldova is in breach of the memorandum's prohibition on use of force.

In March 2006, the government of Transnistria lodged a formal protest against this surprise introduction of new regulations requiring goods entering Ukraine from Transnistria to carry a Moldovan customs stamp.
Moldovan officials insisted that the new rules, inexplicably backed by the OSCE, were designed to stop smuggling. Objectively, they amounted to giving wide control of Transnistria's export economy to Moldova and were targeted primarily at goods which were already being processed normally by Ukraine's customs service (thus not targeted at smuggling).

In article 3 of the same joint agreement between the sides, Moldova promises that Transnistria "shall participate in the conduct of the foreign policy of the Republic of Moldova on questions touching its interests."

Tiraspol points out that when Moldova and Ukraine orchestrated, through their foreign ministries, to implement the notorious customs rules affecting Transnistria directly, Transnistria was not in any way consulted and specifically did not participate in the conduct of this foreign policy with Moldova. On the contrary, the new customs regulations were introduced as a suprise move late on a Friday afternoon, timed to limit the PMR government's ability to react at the international level.

Transnistria contended that such wide-ranging customs changes should be worked out by mutual agreement, after dialogue and negotiations, especially given the history of animosity in the region and the potential for conflict escalation.

Free and open trade strengthens prosperity, democracy

Transnistria (also known as Transdniester or Transdniestria, and officially named Pridnestrovie as per its constitution) sees the customs restrictions as an economic blockade. Over the past year, an estimated $500 million worth of goods didn't move, causing a significant drop in exports, lost markets, and a drop in tax revenue for Transnistria's budget.

The overtly political move was an affront to Transnistria in the context of settlement negotiations with Moldova where it is known that the two governments are at loggerheads with each other.

" - Free trade is good. Open markets and free trade, that's the way to bring prosperity to a part of Europe which badly needs it," says Oleg Lysenko, supervisor at a textile company on the outskirts of Tiraspol. "And with more prosperity comes more democracy. The opposite is also true."

It is indeed time, says Transnistria, to remove all obstacles barring the free movement of people, goods, and services. In that, Tiraspol agrees with both Chisinau and Washington. The only difference is how the word "all" should be interpreted...

See also:
» Trans-Dniester exports down 23.2% due to "economic cold war"
» Transnistria wants Moldova to keep its word and respect earlier agreements
» Losses mount as firms resist Chisinau's "registration trap"
» A year later, customs conflict has missed its mark