More than 3,000 vehicles registered in the Transnistrian region were reregistered with neutral-design license plates. This is 3% of the motors vehicles registered on the left side of the Nistru. According to Deputy Prime Minister for Reintegration Alexandru Flenchea, the demand for neutral-design license plates increased after the trial regime implemented in the middle of January for vehicles registered in the Transnistrian region when crossing the Moldovan-Ukrainian state border, IPN reports.
“The official Chisinau enabled each inhabitant of the region to register their vehicles with legal documents issued by the authorities of the Republic of Moldova that are recognized by signatories of the Vienna Convention on Road Traffic. Our goal matches perfectly the proposed paradigm – reunification of the country by the legal registration of motor vehicles from the left side of the Nistru,” the Deputy Prime Minister stated in an interview for RFE/RL’s Moldovan Service.
Alexandru Flenchea noted the trial regime applied in January was decided beforehand, but wasn’t made public as this was according to plan. “The goal was to obtain statistical data about the dynamics of crossings free from the influence of a public announcement. It was a test to determine the flow, the number of registered and non-registered vehicles, the registration capacity of the offices of the Public Services Agency so as to see if these cope with the increased demand,” he said.
The officials also said that the agreement on neutral-design license plates was important and with a huge potential that was mainly realized, but the process is continuous. The collection of statistical data also continues following the trial regime. The objective is for all the vehicles to have neutral-design license plates, but the registration process will last as it implies a voluntary move. “It is an opportunity rather than an obligation for those who want to travel abroad. On the right side of the Nistru, not all the vehicle owners go abroad either,” stated Alexandru Flenchea.
As of September 1, 2018, the owners of motor vehicles living in the Transnistrian region can ask for neutral-design license plates from the Moldovan authorities for taking part in international road traffic. Following agreements within the negotiation process between Chisinau and Tiraspol, two registration points were opened in Tiraspol and Rybnitsa.
