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Federal Foreign Minister Westerwelle welcomes the decision to resume official 5+2 negotiations
In New York today (22 September), Federal Foreign Minister Westerwelle issued the following statement on the decision to resume official negotiations on the conflict in Transdniestria:
“I welcome today’s decision by Moldova and Transdniestria to resume official negotiations on the conflict in Transdniestria within the 5+2 framework.
This is an important first step towards a solution after five years of stagnation in one of the last dead-locked conflicts in our European neighbourhood.
It is now important that the official 5+2 negotiations are resumed quickly and also that tangible progress is made.
We will continue to work towards finding a solution that is acceptable to all parties.”
The resumption of official negotiations was agreed on today at an informal meeting of the 5+2 parties in Moscow. The parties in this framework are Moldova and Transdniestria as well as the OSCE, Russia, and Ukraine, and, as observers, the European Union and the United States.
On 9 September 2011 both parties in the conflict and the other partners in the 5+2 process had met for informal talks in Bad Reichenhall at the invitation of the OSCE. The Meseberg Initiative concerning deeper cooperation on security, which was launched by Federal Chancellor Merkel and Russian President Medvedev in June 2010, also gave new impetus to the process.
There have been no official 5+2 negotiations since 2006.
