OSCE Mission to Moldova

CHISINAU, 14 February 2007- The Head of the OSCE Mission to Moldova, Ambassador Louis O'Neill, said today he was disappointed about the lack of consensus among the parties involved in the Transnistrian settlement process on going ahead with the settlement talks proposed to start tomorrow in Chisinau.

"We deeply regret that there was no consensus to uphold the invitation to the parties for a new round of settlement talks on 15 and 16 February," O'Neill said.

The mediators from the Russian Federation, Ukraine and the OSCE had invited on 25th January the chief negotiators from the Republic of Moldova and the Transnistrian region to settlement negotiations in the "5+2" format for 15 and 16 February 2007. The invitation was signed following talks among the mediators and the observers - the European Union and the United States - in the settlement process last month in Madrid.