The OSCE Chairman-in-Office, Slovak diplomat Miroslav Lajcak is in Tiraspol. This visit is the first in his new capacity (Slovakia has been chairing the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe since January 1 this year). Earlier, Miroslav Lajcak represented the European Union in the format of the “Permanent Conference...”.
The delegation that arrived in Pridnestrovie today includes officials from the Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs of the Slovak Republic, representatives of the OSCE Secretariat, as well as a large group of Slovak journalists. The PMR Foreign Minister Vitaly Ignatiev met foreign visitors at the border.
The main part of the event was held in the House of Official Receptions. Here the President of the PMR met the foreign guests. Welcoming the Minister of Foreign and European Affairs of Slovakia, Miroslav Lajcak, and his colleagues, Vadim Krasnoselsky noted that he was pleased with the Slovak Chairmanship in the OSCE. The President of Pridnestrovie drew attention to the experience of Slovakia as a negotiator. “The Slovak Republic has a good experience in conducting the negotiation process, the work of the negotiation format. I think that your Chairmanship will give an additional impetus to the movement in this direction”, Vadim Krasnoselsky noted. Noting the recent positive dynamics of the negotiation process, he emphasized that if 2017 was the year of reaching agreements, 2018 was the beginning of their implementation, then 2019 - the year of searching for new points of contact and making practical decisions aimed at improving people’s lives. He called the compromise a form of interaction, which allows implementing the agreements. Vadim Krasnoselsky connects the stagnation of past years with the lack of understanding of the fundamental essence of a simple formula: a politician must work in the best interests of people. The President of the PMR called today’s Pridnestrovie the territory of stability and development.
The Head of the OSCE Miroslav Lajcak in his turn noted that he considers the OSCE to be a unique platform, and believes in high potential for negotiations on this platform. He said that Slovakia thoroughly prepared for the OSCE Chairmanship and expects to be useful. The Slovak Chairmanship in the OSCE, according to Miroslav Lajcak, goes under the slogan “The Chairmanship for a dialogue, for a man and for stability”. He called the resolution of the Moldovan-Pridnestrovian situation one of the priorities.
Upon completion of the protocol part, the dialogue continued in working order without participation of the media. Then the journalists had the opportunity to learn about the content of the conversation between Vadim Krasnoselsky and Miroslav Lajcak and about the results of their meeting asking the interlocutors themselves: the visit program provides press briefing.
