CHISINAU. Jan 9 (Interfax) - The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) will be seeking to secure progress in the Transdniestria settlement process based on dialogue and confidence building, OSCE Chairperson-in-office and Finnish Foreign Minister Elina Valtonen said.
The OSCE has a clear mandate in Moldova, Valtonen told a joint press conference with Moldovan Foreign Minister Mihai Popsoi. As the current chairperson, Finland intends to achieve progress in the Transdniestria settlement process, she said. The OSCE will place emphasis on supporting dialogue and boosting confidence between the sides. Finland supports full settlement of the Transdniestrian conflict across all aspects, based on the sovereignty and territorial integrity and Moldova and welfare of the population within the country's borders, with a special status for Transniestria, Valtonen said.
For Finland, it is important to provide an added value during the settlement process, she said.
Valtonen congratulated Moldovan authorities on last year's presidential election and referendum on European integration, saying that Chisinau can count on Finland in moving forward down the European path.
Moldova's firm position remains invariable: to resolve the Transdniestrian issue solely peacefully, through political dialogue, based on territorial integrity and sovereignty within the internationally recognized borders, Popsoi said.
Moldova's advance towards its European integration will have a positive effect on settling the Transdniestrian conflict, he said. An unconditional withdrawal of the troops and weapons that remain on Moldovan territory illegally, without permission from the constitutional authorities, will lend a positive dynamic to the reintegration process, Popsoi said.
Valtonen is currently in Moldova on an official visit. During the visit she will also meet with Moldovan Prime Minister Dorin Recean and Deputy Prime Minister for Reintegration Oleg Serebrian. Valtonen will also visit Tiraspol where she will meet with Transdniestria's leader Vadim Krasnoselsky and chief negotiator Vitaly Ignatyev.
The OSCE's role in the Transdniestria settlement process had increased, Serebrian said earlier. This was related to Ukraine's exit from the 5+2 format (Moldova, Transdniestria, the conflicting parties; the OSCE, Russia, Ukraine as mediators; and the European Union and United States as observers), leading to its final collapse, though meetings in that format had ceased earlier. The only 5+2 meeting in past seven years was held in October 2019.