OSCE Chairperson urges Chisinau and Tiraspol to prepare ground for progress in talks

The OSCE Chairperson, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Leonid Kozhara, who is on an official visit in Chisinau, urged the Moldovan and Transdniestrian leadership to make good use of the time between now and next month's 5+2 talks in Lvov so that the year starts on a positive note with progress in the negotiations, Info-Prim Neo reports, quoting a press release from the OSCE. The Chairperson stressed that Ukraine is very familiar with the complex issues involved in the settlement process, both as a mediator and as a neighboring country. “I hope that this experience can act as a catalyst for further progress as we chair the 5+2 talks this year on behalf of the OSCE,” he said. He also said that last month the 57 OSCE participating States gave their full political backing to the settlement process at the OSCE Ministerial Council in Dublin, where they encouraged the advancement of the negotiations on all three baskets of the agreed agenda. “As a first step, the re-opening of the Gura Bicului bridge to traffic would be a positive signal of the commitment of both sides to the process and immediately improve the lives of the people on both banks of the river,” stated Leonid Kozhara. On January 21, the OSCE Chairperson met with Moldova’s President Nicolae Timofti, Prime Minister Vlad Filat, Deputy Prime Minister for Reintegration Eugen Carpov, Minister for Foreign Affairs and European Integration Iurie Leanca and Parliament Speaker Marian Lupu. On January 22, he will have a meeting with Transnistrian leader Yevgeny Shevchuk in Tiraspol.