A meeting of Tiraspol’s chief negotiator Vitaly Igantiev and Chisinau’s chief negotiator, Deputy Prime Minister for Reintegration Oleg Serebrian is to take place in the Transnistrian region next week. The meeting was scheduled for Tuesday and discussions are to focus on economic issues, IPN reports.
The administration Tiraspol announced that the main topic of the meeting is the “measures of economic pressure on Transnistria on behalf of the Republic of Moldova and their negative consequences.” “It goes to the introduction of new customs duties for Transnistrian economic agents, blocking of exports from Transnistrian enterprises and also from alcohol producers,” the unrecognized authorities noted.
The meeting in the 1+1 format will take place following a number of decisions taken by Tiraspol as ”response measures” to the fact that the provisions of the new Customs Code of the Republic of Moldova which entered into force on January 1 oblige all economic agents, including those from the Transnistrian region, to pay customs duty according to general principles, taking into account the preferences granted in accordance with international treaties and agreements to which Moldova is a party.
Also, Tiraspol accused that “battle groups are being prepared in Moldova to commit terrorist attacks in the region.” The Bureau for Reintegration Policies in Chisinau described this information as provocative and pursuing propaganda goals.
Last year, the negotiators from Tiraspol and Chisinau had two meetings, in February and June. Discussions on the Transnistrian conflict had previously taken place in the 5+2 negotiation format. It includes Chisinau and Tiraspol as parties to the conflict, the OSCE, the Russian Federation and Ukraine as mediators and the European Union and the U.S. as observers. Since Russia’s war against Ukraine began in February 2022, this negotiation format has stalled.
