Deputy Prime Minister for Reintegration Gheorghe Balan, in a meeting with the political representative of Tiraspol Vitaly Ignatyev in Bender, asked that the Transnistrian side should put into practice concrete measures that would bring about positive results for the people living on both sides of the Nistru River. The meeting held on March 18 was also attended by representatives of the mediators and observers of the 5+2 format talks, IPN reports.

According to a press release of the Reintegration Office, the agenda of the meeting included such subjects as the work pace of the sector working group of Chisinau and Tiraspol and the planning of their next working meetings, ensuring of free access, unblocking of the work of the Joint Control Commission and the current problems in the area of railway freight transport.

In a manner that became traditional already, the Transnistrian side raised the issue of criminal case started against Transnistrian officials and the recognition of the documents issued by the bodies from both of the sides. Gheorghe Balan said there are no political criminal cases on the right bank and the given issue is within the exclusive remit of the rule of law institutions, while the documents of national model issued by the competent authorities are recognized internationally and all the people of the country, including the Transnistrians, have access to the necessary documents.

The Deputy Prime Minister underlined the importance of strengthening confidence between the two sides of the Nistru, mentioning the concrete measures taken by the Government in this regard, like the initiation of the process of amending the national legislation so as to reduce the import tax on raw materials for goods coming from third countries and elimination of the ecological taxes for business entities from Transnistria. Gheorghe Balan asked for concrete actions from Tiraspol, such as the removal of the barriers hindering the free movement of people and units of transport, annulment of the migration regimes instituted unilaterally in Transnistria and simplification of the procedures for crossing the administrative line.

In the meeting, the political representatives agreed to organize the meetings of all the sector working groups in the near future so as to identify particular solutions to the problems of major interest before the visit of the representatives of the 3+2 format talks. The interlocutors mentioned the holding of the meeting of the experts of the working groups on healthcare at the head office of the OSCE Mission in Tiraspol.