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EU high representative welcomes “5+2” talks on Transdniestria settlement

The Transdniesterian settlement talks in the “5+2” format were broken up at the end of February 2006

BRUSSELS, April 18 (Itar-Tass) —— Catherine Ashton, the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy welcomed the progress achieved at the “5+2” official talks on Transdniestrian settlement held in Vienna on Wednesday, April 18.

“I welcome the break-through achieved today in Vienna by the participants of the 5+2 official talks on the Transnistrian issue. Agreement was reached on the principles and procedures for the conduct of negotiations and on the substantial scope of the agenda for the future talks,” she said in a statement.

“This is an important achievement, which should provide new momentum towards a comprehensive settlement. I commend the participants on the political will and flexibility shown and the significant efforts made by the Irish Chairmanship in Office of the OSCE in this process,” Ashton said.

The EU looks forward to a fruitful and substantial next round of talks in Vienna in July, she said.

The Dublin round of Transdniestrian settlement talks in the “5+2” format helped built confidence between the sides, the Irish Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade said.

The OSCE Chairperson-in-Office, Irish Deputy Prime Minister Eamon Gilmore, welcomed the progress achieved in official “5+2” talks towards a Transdniestrian settlement that ended in Dublin.

The Transdniesterian settlement talks in the “5+2” format were broken up at the end of February 2006.

Chisinau and Tiraspol managed to resume the dialogue with Russia's assistance two years later at the level of political representatives. They gathered every month to resolve pressing problems of the population of Moldova and the breakaway republic.

In March 2009, the negotiations were resumed again after the trilateral meeting of the presidents of Russia, Moldova and Transdniestria.

Under Western pressure, Chisinau started talking about the need to include Romania in the negotiation process and raise the status of the U.S. to that of Russia's - from observer to guarantor. Some even suggested giving up Transdniestria claiming that it would be easier "to recreate the union" of Moldova and Romania without the breakaway region.

At the latest meetings in Moscow and Vilnius late last year and in Dublin this year, the parties agreed to resume the talks.

The standoff between the breakaway territory and Moldova's central government escalated into a bloody armed conflict in 1992 where thousands of people lost lives or were severely wounded.

Russia's peacekeepers were brought into the zone of the Dniester conflict in 1992, which made it possible to stop the armed conflict.