Efforts to settle Transnistrian dispute will continue – OSCE CiO

The long-running conflicts in Moldova, Georgia and Karabakh are among the security challenges that need OSCE’s attention. Thus, the Organisation will continue efforts to find sustainable solutions, incoming OSCE chairman-in-office, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation of Spain, Miguel Angel Moratinos, said in his speech delivered to the OSCE Permanent Council, Info-Prim Neo reports. Referring to the Transnistrian dispute, the European Union emphasised that the fulfilment of all commitments assumed at OSCE Summit in Istanbul (1999) and reflected in the Final Document of PACE Treaty remains a key condition for settling the dispute. GUAM member states maintained that the lack of stability, inconsistency and double standards for promoting OSCE principles, often interpreted as “flexibility”, as well as the selective approach of the commitments assumed within the Organisation, delay the settlement of these conflicts. Additionally, GUAM states asserted that there is no alternative to solve these conflicts peacefully, which should be bases on the generally recognised principles and norms of international law, sovereignty, territorial integrity and inviolability of international borders. GUAM members underlined that the problem of removing the consequences of the aggressive separatism and settlement of disputes in Georgia, Moldova and Azerbaijan must loom heavily on the agenda of the OSCE Chairmanship of Spain. The USA and Canada also back the idea that the OSCE Chairmanship of Spain and states within the Organisation should put emphasis on the issue of the “frozen” conflicts.