CHISINAU. Jan 26 (Interfax) - Moldova Prime Minister Vlad Filat is to meet with the new Transdniestrian leader, Yevgeny Shevchuk, in Odessa on Friday, the government of Moldova said in a statement.
"The talks will deal with ways to intensify the talks on the Transdniestrian settlement, as well as steps to solve problems facing residents on both banks of the Dniester. The meeting will be held in the context of preparations for the next round of talks in the 5+2 format to be held in Dublin in February," the statement says.
Filat had several informal contacts with the former Transdniestrian leader Igor Smirnov last year, which led to an agreement in Moscow on September 26, 2011, to restart the talks in the 5+2 format, whose first round was held in Vilnius on December 1, 2011, after an interval of six years. The parties agreed in Vilnius to hold the next round in Ireland, which took over the rotating presidency of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe from Lithuania.
Smirnov was defeated in the presidential elections in July and quit big-time politics.
The Odessa talks will be attended by Russian and Ukrainian diplomats and representatives of other mediators and observers in the negating process - the OSCE, U.S. and the European Union.