Chisinau-Tiraspol working groups to agree schedule of regular meetings

The co-chairpersons of the Chisinau-Tiraspol working groups will meet on March 19 to set a schedule of regular expert-level meetings. The meeting will take place in Tiraspol and will involve representatives of the “5+2” format talks, Info-Prim Neo reports. Deputy Minister of Education Loretta Handrabura, who heads the working group on education and science, said that she expects the new Transnistrian administration will be more receptive. The participants in the meeting will consider the possibility of organizing a seminar on the recognition of the education certificates and qualifications, based on the international practice, and of ensuring student and teacher mobility. They will also discuss the organization of a seminar on the objectives and advantages of the Bologna Process. Valeriu Ciubuc, chairman of the working group on the development of infrastructure and ensuring of the smooth running of the railways, said that he hopes all the started initiatives will be continued. “The working commission is to deal with the issue of customs products so that we can restore all the railway routes. A series of problems concerning motor transport are also to be solved,” he stated. The working groups haven’t met for a long period of time. The head of the Reintegration Office Gheorghe Balan said it will be the first meeting after the replacement of the Transnistrian administration. “We hope there will be given an impetus,” he stated. The working groups of experts were created in 2008 to solve the daily problems of the people living on the two sides of the Nistru. The OSCE Mission facilitates the holding of meetings as part of the efforts made to promote the confidence –building measures. The “5+2” format talks include representatives of the conflicting sides, the mediators and observers to the negotiating process – Moldova, Transnistria, OSCE, Russia, Ukraine, the EU, and U.S.