Deputy Prime Minister on reintegration matters Victor Osipov is skeptical about the possibility of making progress in settling the Transnistrian dispute at the discussions set to take place in Vienna on November 6, Info-Prim Neo reports. According to him, Chisinau has to cover a long path until there will be formulated serious documents that can be signed under a special mandate. However, Osipov, who was empowered to act in the name of the Government in the current stage of the negotiation process, told a news conference on Tuesday that the meeting in Vienna is designed to reopen the talks in the 5+2 format suspended in 2003. He stressed that the Greek presidency of the OSCE made considerable effort to organize this meeting, specifying that this way Greece showed that it approved of the new Moldovan administration’s availability and capacity to get involved in the resolution of the Transnistrian dispute. Osipov also said that they will try in Vienna to resume the negotiation process and unblock the apolitical cooperation between the banks of the Nistru. He considers that the relations between Chisinau and Tiraspol should not be affected by the political barriers that hinder the solving of the dispute. Victor Osipov has been named Deputy Prime Minister on reintegration matters on September 25, when the new Government was installed. He took over the duties of the former Minister of Reintegration. One month and a half after his appointment, Osipov said that he tried to be prudent when expressing political positions, but was also attentive to the statements made by the Transnistrian authorities. Some of them are acceptable, he said, including the idea of restoring the confidence building groups. There were eight such groups that worked in different social and economic spheres. They consisted of representatives of Chisinau and Tiraspol. Osipov said that another favorable proposal, which was backed by Tiraspol and Moscow, is to hold bilateral discussions involving the major negotiators on behalf of the official Chisinau and Tiraspol. Speaking about the Russian consulate in Tiraspol, Osipov said the fact that it was opened shows that the former government’s fierce opposition to opening foreign representative offices in Transnistria does not hinder the great powers from doing it. Thus, according to him, the review of this position is welcome as a number of countries and international organizations could set up representative offices there.