OSCE welcomes agreement to resume rail services

Ambassador Erwan Fouéré, the Special Representative of the Chairperson-in-Office for the Transnistrian settlement process, welcomed the agreement allowing the resumption of full rail traffic through the region, Info-Prim Neo reports, quoting a press release from the OSCE. “I welcome the agreement to restore full railway services for people and freight,” said Fouéré. “People on both sides of the river and local businesses will benefit, and I commend the parties for their constructive and problem-solving approach to issues of mutual concern.” Ambassador Fouéré will be in the region from 2 to 5 April, with meetings in Kiev, Odessa, Tiraspol and Chisinau. On Monday, April 2, he will meet Ambassador Igor Kharchenko, Ukraine’s Special Representative for the Transdniestrian Settlement, in Kiev. On April 3, he will be in Odessa to meet Udo Burkholder, the head of the EU Border Assistance Mission to Ukraine and Moldova, and will then travel by train to Tiraspol. He will meet the Transdniestrian authorities as well as co-chairs of the joint working groups on confidence-building measures and civil society representatives on April 4. On Thursday, April 5, Erwan Fouéré will be in Chisinau for meetings with the Moldovan authorities and working group co-chairs. The agreement to resume rail services was signed by Prime Minister Vlad Filat and Transnistrian leader Yevgeny Shevchuk in Tiraspol on March 30.