Separatists raise entry fee instead of abolishing it

The administration of Transnistria raised on January 1 the fee charged upon entering the region, despite promises to abolish it altogether, the Moldovan Ministry of Reintegration informed. The Ministry said in a press statement it received numerous complaints from the population in connection with the increase in the entry fee from 8 to 22 Moldovan lei, despite a public announcement made by Transnistria's leader Igor Smirnov during a recent meeting with Moldovan President Vladimir Voronin that the fee would be annulled. The Ministry called on the relevant authorities in Tiraspol as well as the mediators and the observers in the settlement process to take urgent action to restore the situation in conformity with the agreements reached by Voronin and Smirnov. President Vladimir Voronin and Transnistria's leader Igor Smirnov met on December 24 in Tiraspol, but failed to reach a consensus on the resumption of the negotiations in the 5+2 setting (with Moldova and Transnistria as the conflicting sides, Russia, Ukraine and the OSCE as international mediators, and the European Union and United States as observers). However, the parties agreed to continue consultations in the 2+1 format, which includes Moldova and Transnistria, and the Russian Federation acting as mediator. “We have agreed that a priority will be the working groups responsible for the confidence building measures. First of all, the task force for economic matters has to start work immediately, bearing in mind the global economic crisis”, Voronin said at the end of the meeting. Igor Smirnov declared economic groups would be set up “to verify who is paying whom and for what”. The working groups were also supposed to examine the situation concerning the movement of persons and goods, with Smirnov promising that Transnistria would abolish all fees charged on its border from the citizens of the Republic of Moldova.