The resumption of freight railway traffic through the Transnistrian region is delayed because of a lack of consensus on certain customs-related issues. The next round of negotiations of the joint groups of experts is scheduled for September. Valeriu Ciubuc, Deputy Minister of Transport and Road Infrastructure and co-chairman of the workgroup on transports, told Info-Prim Neo that the “customs problems aren’t that simple”. “They include safety of goods storage, VAT refund, the documents from both Moldovan and Transnistrian companies. This is a set of unsolved questions so far”, he declared. According to Valeriu Ciubuc, the resumption of freight railway traffic would benefit a lot the Moldovan companies that won’t have to go all the way to the northern border to transport their goods in Ukraine. The last meeting of the workgroup took place in Bender, where the organization of the traffic of imported and exported goods was coordinated. The two sides discussed about the possibility of resuming import-export operations through the Mateuti-Slobodca, Bolboaca-Bender, Cuciurgan and Causeni-Bender Cuciurgan points. Freight railway traffic between the two banks of the Nistru was disrupted in 2006.