Lessons for future efforts in Transdniestrian settlement identified at OSCE seminar in Vienna

A seminar organized by the Ukrainian OSCE Chairmanship on the history of OSCE mediation efforts in the Transdniestrian settlement process took place on 16 December 2013 in Vienna. The event brought together former mediators, negotiators and civil society representatives from both banks of the Dniester/Nistru River.

Speaking at the opening of the conference, Special Representative of the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office for Conflicts, Ambassador Andrii Deshchytsia said the event offered a “unique opportunity to draw from the knowledge pool amassed by the OSCE in the past 20 years and to stimulate the debate on how to make OSCE involvement into the settlement process more effective and productive.

In his opening remarks, OSCE Secretary General Lamberto Zannier underlined the key role of the Organization as an impartial mediator and stressed the importance of the collective political will of all OSCE participating States to underpin existing efforts to achieve a comprehensive settlement of the conflict.

Seminar participants looked at the conflict resolution toolbox of the OSCE, including formal and informal mechanisms, discussed best ways to resolve crisis situations and to engage the civil society to support the official negotiation efforts in the «5+2» format. They examined the past involvement of the OSCE and other international actors in the Transdniestrian settlement, and identified a number of specific recommendations for the future mediation efforts. Among the topics raised by the participants were: encouraging effective co-ordination between the mediators; their active engagement with the sides to promote the political will to achieve a comprehensive settlement; encouraging bilateral dialogue between Chisinau and Tiraspol at all levels, including  political leaders and civil society.

In his concluding remarks, Chairperson of the OSCE Permanent Council Ambassador Ihor Prokopchuk of Ukraine said:  “For Ukraine, the Transdniestrian settlement has been and will remain a priority - not only during our OSCE Chairmanship year, but until the conflict is settled. Today’s seminar is an attempt to look back at the history of the negotiations and to identify ways to advance the process further.”

”Achieving a comprehensive political settlement of the Transdniestrian conflict will require compromise solutions from both sides. Ukraine, as a mediator and as a guarantor of the future settlement, is convinced that all differences should be settled only through dialogue and co-operation,” concluded Prokopchuk.

The seminar “The history of OSCE mediation efforts in the Transdniestrian settlement process: Lessons learned and lessons to be learned” was organized by the Ukrainian OSCE Chairmanship with support from the Conflict Prevention Centre of the OSCE Secretariat.