CHISINAU. Sept 8 (Interfax) - The Special Representative of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe's (OSCE) Chairperson-in-Office for the Transdniestrian Settlement Process, Wolf Dietrich Heim, of Austria, says that progress is possible in the negotiating process over Transdniestrian conflict settlement.
This was the third 1+1 meeting this year, the second one, organized by the OSCE, was held in a constructive spirit, which shows the need to develop various negotiating formats and levels, Heim told a press conference in Chisinau on Friday at the end of his three-day visit to Chisinau and Tiraspol.
The meeting between the political representatives and chief negotiators from Chisinau and Tiraspol, which was held at the OSCE mission office in Bender on Friday, ended with satisfactory results, he said.
Asked about peacekeepers' presence and a possible change to the format of the peacekeeping operation in Transdniestria, Heim said that at talks, the parties are trying to focus on those aspects where progress is possible.
Currently, peacekeepers are present in the region legally, he said. The OSCE engages in negotiations without interfering in other processes involving its partners' bilateral relationships, the special representative said. The OSCE attaches substantial importance to the international partners in the negotiations and urges everyone to actively participate in the negotiating process, Heim said. After today's 1+1 meeting, all 5+2 format participants left with a feeling that, with political will, progress at the talks is possible, he said.
For his part, Michael Scanlan, head of the OSCE mission to Moldova, said that the parties are now close to achieving progress on eight points and a noticeable improvement of the situation.
The parties themselves outlined their discussion priorities, sector-specific working groups carried out a very good job on complicated issues, thus breaking the impasse, Scanlan said. A political decision is now necessary to solidify these results, he said.
The parties have advanced the most on transport, communications and education issues, Scanlan told journalists.
In these areas, there is a broad spectrum of issues that are solvable with the parties' political will, and it is possible to resolve a number of accumulated problems facing residents on both sides of the Dniester River and make the negotiating process more predictable, Scanlan said. Everything now depends on the parties and, hopefully, over the next few weeks it will be possible to see how agreements get implemented, he said.
The 5+2 talks (Moldova, Transdniestria, Russia, Ukraine, and the OSCE, as well as the United States and European Union as observers) have not been held for three years now. In 2012-2013 negotiating rounds were held every two months. The talks have been frozen since spring of 2014.