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Moldova, Transdniestria begin to implement agreements reached at Berlin talks

The sides agreed to continue efforts to coordinate a draft document on cooperation in a number of spheres

TIRASPOL, June 10. /TASS/. Chisinau and Tiraspol have begun to implement agreements reached at the Transdniestrian settlement talks in the 5+2 format in Berlin last week, the press service of the foreign ministry of the unrecognized republic of Transdniestria said on Friday.

Thus, a protocol on exchange of hydrometeorology information was signed on Friday by Transdiestria and Moldova in the presence of mediators and obesrvers.

"The document regulates the procedure and character of hydrometeorology information exchange between the relevant service of Moldova and Transdniestria," the ministry said. "The sides also agreed to continue efforts to coordinate a draft document on cooperation the sphere of regulation of the fishing sector and efficient use of aquatic bio resources in the River Dniester."

It was among the seven points the sides reached consensus on at the Berlin meeting. The other six concern mutual recognition of documents, the freedom of movement of cargoes and people, education, communications, criminal prosecution of officials. At the Berlin meeting, Chisinau and Tiraspol once again reiterated their commitment to peaceful ways of settling disputes and agreed to improve the mechanism of implementation of agreements they reach.

Talks in the 5+2 format, involving Moldova and Transdniestria as parties to the conflict, the OSCE as a mediator, Russia and Ukraine as guarantors and the European Union and the United States as observers, have been stuck for the second year. Only two out of five scheduled meetings were held in 2014. Relations between Chisinau and Tiraspol chilled after the Transdniestrial leader accused Moldova and Ukraine of exerting coordinated pressure on the unrecognized republic through economic sanctions. Tiraspol accused the Moldovan authorities of opening about 200 criminal cases against Transdniestrian officials.

A traditional Bavarian conference on trust-building measures between Chisinau and Tiraspol is to be held in July. It is an unofficial annual meeting held near Munich since 2009. The sides are expected to outline coordinated solutions from the Berlin package.

Transdniestria, a largely Russian-speaking region, broke away from Moldova following the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. Its relations with Moldova’s central government in Chisinau have been highly mixed and extremely tense at times ever since then. In 1992 and 1993, tensions erupted into a bloody armed conflict that claimed the lives of hundreds of people on both sides.