Moldova, Transdniestria to meet first time with new Chisinau negotiator's participation
CHISINAU. Dec 12 (Interfax) - Moldovan Deputy Prime Minister for Reintegration Alexandru Flenchea, Chisinau's new negotiator for Transdniestria, will have his first meeting with Transdniestria's chief negotiator, Foreign Minister Vitalie Ignatiev, at the office of the OSCE Permanent Mission in Chisinau on December 16, the Moldovan government's Reintegration Bureau told Interfax.
Flenchea and Ignatiev plan to discuss the current state of the negotiating process, current problems of the people living on both banks of the Dniester River, the implementation of the documents signed earlier, and prospects for signing a protocol based on the outcomes of a 5+2 format meeting in Bratislava in early October.
It had been reported earlier that the only negotiating round on a Transdniestria settlement in the 5+2 format in 2019 took place in early October, and its participants did not sign any final document. The parties also failed to agree on such a document at an informal conference on confidence building measures along the banks of the Dniester River, which took place in Bavaria in early November. This was prompted by disagreements between Chisinau and Tiraspol concerning the inclusion of some provisions discussed in Bratislava in the protocol.
After a new government was formed in Moldova in mid-November, Flenchea was appointed a new deputy prime minister for reintegration instead of Vasilii Sova, who became the president's advisor on domestic policy and reintegration.