OSCE urges Moldova to explain new rules for crossing Transdniestria border
CHISINAU. Sept 27 (Interfax) - The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe has urged Moldova to publish detailed explanations of formalities for entering and exiting the country through checkpoints it plans to set up on its border with its breakaway region of Transdniestria.
The OSCE expects that, "before putting the new migration procedures into effect, Moldova will carry out a wide-scale information campaign on what the upcoming changes to the rules on entry to the country and exit from it are about," Andriy Deschytsia, special representative of the OSCE chairman-in-office, told a news conference in Chisinau on Friday.
Deschytsia, who is a Ukrainian diplomat - Ukraine currently holds the OSCE's rotating chairmanship, - cited the Transdniestrian government as expressing fear on Wednesday that the new rules would "significantly limit the freedom of movement of holders of passports of other countries who live in the region."
"In Chisinau we have received assurances that, first of all, the new procedures will be publicly announced and explained, and, secondly, that they would only apply to foreign nationals who enter Moldova," he said.
"All those who are interested must be given clear information about this," he added.
He hailed the first meeting between Moldovan Prime Minister Iurie Leanca and Transdniestrian leader Yevgeny Shevchuk and the fact that there have been four meetings between Moldovan and Transdniestrian officials over the past two months.
"We very much expect that the intensity of contacts will eventually transform into quality results that the population on both sides of the Dniester will see," Deschytsia said.
The next round of Moldovan-Transdniestrian conflict settlement talks in the Five Plus Two format - the fourth one since the start of this year - is due to be held in Brussels on October 3-4.
