Moldova to continue dialogue with Transdniestria to resolve region's energy crisis - authorities

CHISINAU/TIRASPOL. Jan 30 (Interfax) - Chisinau-Tiraspol dialogue on resolving the energy crisis facing the unrecognized Moldovan Republic of Transdniestria will continue, the Moldova's Reintegration Policies Bureau said after multilateral technical meeting.

The meeting took place via videoconference on Wednesday, the bureau said in a statement. Representatives of the European Union Delegation in Chisinau, the European Commission and the offices of political representatives for Transdniestria settlement negotiations participated in it, the statement said.

"Given the support provided by the European Union, Chisinau offered Tiraspol effective options to end the energy crisis, and invited it to agree and implement alternative mechanisms for delivering energy to the Transdniestrian region of the Republic of Moldova," it said.

"Certain technical details and statistical data dealing with electricity and gas consumption in the region need to be provided in order to effectively resolve the issue of energy supplies to Tiraspol," it said.

"It is important to find a mechanism under which gas purchased as part of the support offered by the EU would first of all cover the needs of households, hospitals, schools and other social institutions in the region," it said.

"It was decided to continue the dialogue on technical aspects at the level of specialists of electricity companies," it said.

In turn, Transdniestrian leader Vadim Krasnoselsky told journalists in Tiraspol that he asked the European Commission to split the resources offered to Moldova and Transdniestria to resolve the energy crisis.

"Everyone should understand who could count on what in order to avoid further speculation regarding the disbursement of this emergency aid package," Krasnoselsky said, adding that "the Moldovan side's position is completely at odds with the statements published by the European Commission on January 27."