Bavaria to host conference on Transdniestria on July 12-13
CHISINAU. July 8 (Interfax) - Bavaria will host a conference on confidence building measures between the parties to the Transdniestria conflict next week, the Moldovan governmental Reintegration Bureau told Interfax.
The conference involving delegations from all parties to the 5+2 format (Moldova, Transdniestria, Russia, Ukraine, and the OSCE plus observers from the U.S. and the European Union) will be held in Bad-Reichenhall on July 12-13.
The Moldovan and Transdniestrian delegations will be led by the parties' chief negotiators, i.e. Moldovan Deputy Prime Minister for Reintegration Gheorghe Balan and acting Transdniestrian Foreign Minister Vitali Ignatiev. The heads of working groups on confidence building measures in various fields will also travel to Bavaria, it said.
"The conference agenda includes discussions at the top level and several theme sessions, which should be attended by international partners. They will discuss issues of mutual interest to Chisinau and Tiraspol concerning education, transport, communications and so on," it said.
The conference in Bavaria will be the seventh of its kind. It has been regularly held at the German Foreign Ministry's initiative since 2009. Germany, which is currently holding the OSCE chairmanship, ensured the resumption of the 5+2 negotiations this year through the mediation of the other 5+2 format participants.
The first meeting in this format after a two-year pause took place in Berlin on June 2-3. Its participants signed a protocol including seven clauses, which Chisinau and Tiraspol were supposed to implement before the meeting in Bavaria. However, the parties have fulfilled only one out of the seven clauses by signing protocols on meteorology and environment protection cooperation in the Dniester River's basin at the end of June.
The participants in the conference in Bavaria are expected to discuss the agenda, date, and venue of the next round of the negotiations in the 5+2 format.