PMR's Foreign Ministry receives official visit by Spanish delegation

Pridnestrovie's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, located in the capital Tiraspol, was visited by an official delegation from Spain

TIRASPOL (Tiraspol Times) - Being an unrecognized country doesn't mean that you don't have the ability to engage in foreign relations. This was shown Wednesday, when Valeri Litskai, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Pridnestrovskaia Moldavskaia Respublica (PMR), received an official visit by a delegation of Spain's Foreign and Cooperation Ministry. Spain is currently holding the OSCE chairmanship-in-office, and its delegation - headed by Ambassador Jose Maria Pons Irazabal - is paying a two-day fact collecting visit to Moldova and Pridnestrovie, also known under the unofficial names of Transnistria, Transdniester and Transdniestria, all related to the Dniester River which forms the border between Moldova and Pridnestrovie.

As head of the Spanish delegation, Ambassador Jose Maria Pons Irazabal, expressed the Spanish chairmanship's support for Pridnestrovie's desire to find a solution to the conflict.

" - But there is not yet a complete vision and understanding of the real picture of the prevailing situation," said Foreign Minister Valeri Litskai after the meeting.

Although professing its wish for a peaceful, democratic and mutually agreeable status settlement, the Spanish delegation adhered to the official OSCE position of supporting what Moldova considers its territorial integrity. At the same time, Jose Maria Pons Irazabal professed a desire to strengthening regional security. One observer close to the OSCE believes that a conflict resolution which forces Pridnestrovie to become part of a unified Moldovan state against the will of the population of Pridnestrovie will not strengthen regional security, and will bring about the opposite result.

Valeri Litskai, PMR's Minister of Foreign Affairs, explained the need for freedom and democratic self-determination to a visiting delegation from Spain's Foreign Ministry.

Pridnestrovie's Ministry of Foreign Affairs is eager to break the information blockade imposed on the unrecognized country. It makes every effort to form a more realistic image of the state in the eyes of its European neighbors and the world community. In doing so, the Ministry's job is to inform the world community about the reality on the ground within the republic. In doing so, it attempts to disprove some of the slander and unfounded allegations which is used by other state actors to smear Pridnestrovie in order to further their own interests.

Before arriving in Tiraspol, Jose Pons met with Andrei Stratan, Litskai's counterpart in Moldova. According to Moldova's state news agency Moldpres, the head of the Moldovan diplomacy gave the Spanish officials his own version on the current situation in the settlement process and asking for the so-called 5+2 settlement talks to be restarted.

Second Spanish visit this year

Wednesday's visit was the second visit of Spanish diplomats to Tiraspol, Pridnestrovie, during 2007. Earlier this year, a previous visit bore in essence a largely exploratory nature, enabling the official Spanish delegation to familiarize itself with the various proposals and initiatives from both Moldova and Pridnestrovie for how to best kickstart the status settlement talks.

Status settlement talks between the two sides were interrupted in late February 2006 when Moldova left the negotiating table. Later that same week, on 3 March 2007, Pridnestrovie was presented with a fait accompli by Ukraine and Moldova when exports were stopped on the border late on a Friday afternoon and landlocked

Pridnestrovie was told that it could no longer carry out any foreign trade, except with prior approval from Moldova.
In response, the official position of Pridnestrovie has until now been that the unrecognized country will not negotiate under conditions of economic pressure and where one side uses force and the threat of force against the

other. It has asked Moldova to keep its previously commitment under a 1997 agreement which grants Pridnestrovie the right to free and unrestricted foreign trade. It has also asked Moldova and Ukraine to cede to a transit agreement, whereby Pridnestrovie can export to willing partners, such as Russian companies, under the prevailing rules of international law governing transit from landlocked areas. In response, Moldova has instead announced plans for further tightening the customs regulations and control both imports as well as exports.

OSCE has not been able to play a constructive role in removing the customs regulations or reduce tensions between the two sides after more than one year of what Pridnestrovie sees as an economic blockade.

During Wednesday's meeting with the official Spanish delegation, the participants also made preparations for an upcoming meeting between the cabinet of the government of Pridnestrovie and the current OSCE Chairman-in-Office, Spanish Foreign Minister Miguel Angel Moratinos. No date has yet been scheduled, but this meeting is planned for early summer, 2007. (With information from Moldpres)

See also:
» Council of Europe meets PMR Parliament; evaluates democracy progress