Deputy Prime Minister for Reintegration George Balan, who is the political representative of Chisinau to the Transnistrian conflict settlement process, on March 3 had the first meeting with the similar representative of Tiraspol Vitaly Ignatiev. Both of the officials said the meeting was constructive and they are ready to meet weekly to stimulate the solving of the problems that appeared in the period during which the dialogue was stagnant, IPN reports.

After the meeting that lasted for about three hours, George Balan said they discussed a number of subjects raised by both of the sides. “We discussed the access to the farmland in Dubasari district, the discriminatory tariffs on the left side of the Nistru for the institutions controlled by Chisinau and the further interaction. We agreed to give an impetus to the activity of the sector working groups and to look for solutions to the problems that appeared because of the lack of communication,” he stated.

The Deputy Prime Minister noted that the representatives of the Transnistrian conflict settlement talks in the 3+2 format – the mediators and observers - will visit Chisinau and Tiraspol in April. “I hope that we will manage to restart normal work within the 5+2 format this spring. We agreed to meet again next week and will make effort to intensify our cooperation,” said the official.

At to the criminal cases started in Chisinau, which Tiraspol wants to be dropped, George Balan said that none of these cases is politically motivated and no representative of the Transnistrian region’s senior administration has a criminal case started over separatism. All the cases refer to human rights violations and other kinds of infringements.

Vitaly Ignatiev said it’s good that the hiatus in the negotiation process is over. “The most important questions refer to the difficulties faced in the import of goods by trains into Transnistria. The transport traffic is an as important issue. We have particular proposals. We want the working group to meet and examine the proposals of Tiraspol. We were assured that the political representative of Moldova can become involved if necessary,” he stated.

The key negotiator of Tiraspol also said that they discussed the prosecution of members of the region’s administration. There are about 200 criminal cases started against functionaries and businessmen from Transnistria. These cases have a political motivation only and are aimed at exerting political pressure on Tiraspol.