OSCE Mission to Moldova conducts seminar on economic and environmental confidence-building measures

ODESSA, 15 April 2008 - Officials and experts from the Republic of Moldova and the Transdniestrian region addressed common economic and environmental concerns today at a seminar organized by the OSCE Mission to Moldova in the Ukrainian city of Odessa.

Representatives from the OSCE, the Russian Federation, Ukraine, the United States, the European Union and international experts participated in the two-day seminar, aimed at promoting confidence-building measures (CBMs).

"The ideas developed during the seminar are meant to provide concrete proposals on how to act on the initiatives proposed by the Moldova President Vladmir Voronin and the Transdniestrian leader Igor Smirnov during their meeting last Friday," said Ambassador Philip Remler, Head of the OSCE Mission to Moldova.

"Confidence-building measures, adopted to overcome a lack of trust, have a direct impact on the people's welfare," he added.

The participants focused on a wide range of key economic and environmental matters that demand joint effort. Areas for possible co-operation include information exchange, development of communication links, the energy sector, management of the Nistru River and elimination of threats to the environment.

The Odessa discussions follow a seminar organized by the OSCE Mission on CBMs last October. The meetings complement a package of confidence- and security-building measures developed by the OSCE Mission together with experts from Russia and Ukraine and delivered to the Moldovan government and the Transdniestrian leadership in July 2005.

Simultaneously, the political representatives of the parties to the Transdniestrian conflict held a working meeting with the Mediators (Russia, Ukraine, OSCE) and Observers (EU and US), the participants in the 5+2 format, to discuss confidence building measures.