The last five plus two meeting took place in Vienna on 7-8 July under the aegis of the Kazakh OSCE chairmanship. The participants in the process - Russia, Ukraine and the OSCE as mediators, the EU and the USA as observers, as well as Chisinau and Tiraspol as sides involved in the conflict - analyzed the situation created by internal evolutions in Moldova and by actions taken by important actors at the international level.

The agenda of this round of consultations was much more consistent than the previous ones. Special attention was paid to the free movement of people between the two banks of the Dniester. The participants addressed access of peasants from Dorotcaia and other villages from Dubasari district to farmlands situated beyond the highway Ribnita-Tiraspol. The issue of unauthorized checking posts in the security zone was raised too. The negotiators also broached the issue of vehicles with Transnistrian number plates and fiscal and economic consequences of the registration in Transnistria of vehicles imported in Moldova and Ukraine.

Deputy Prime Minister Victor Osipov insisted on the need to solve the problem of Chisinau-run Romanian-language schools based in Transnistria and to guarantee the observance of human rights in the region. For his part, the Transnistrian representatives raised again the issue of external economic operations of the Transnistrian enterprises. The participants also discussed ways to meet the goals established by consensus, in particular to make an inventory of the previously reached agreements and to work out "a working plan" for the negotiating process which should be officially resumed within the five plus two format.

It was agreed that the next meeting in the five plus two format would take place in Vienna in September, being preceded by a visit to Chisinau and Tiraspol by observers and mediators. In the context, the officials pointed out the importance of the informal meeting of OSCE foreign ministers due in Almaty, Kazakhstan, on 16-17 July.

MOLDPRES