Transdniestrian settlement consultations will take place in Lviv shortly, OSCE Chairman-in-Office, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Leonid Kozhara told a Tuesday press conference in Kyiv.
“There is an agreement that the leaders of Moldova and Transdniestria will visit Lviv soon and hold another round of negotiations. Lviv will welcome Moldovan Prime Minister Vlad Filat and Transdniestrian leader Yevgeny Shevchuk,” he said.
The regular meetings will give a boost to the Transdniestrian peace process, he said.
Lviv will play host to 5+2 negotiations on February 19-20, the foreign minister said.
The 5+2 format embraces Moldova and Transdniestria as the conflicting sides, Russia and Ukraine as guarantors and intermediaries, the OSCE as an intermediary and the European Union and the United States as observers.
Transdniestrian settlement is a priority of the Ukrainian chairmanship of the OSCE, Kozhara reminded the reporters.
Both Moldova and Transdniestria realize the need to define the Transdniestrian political status, he said. “If progress is made on these issues, it will have a positive effect on the entire Transdniestrian settlement process,” the minister noted.
Kozhara met with the Moldovan and Transdniestrian leaders in Chisinau and Tiraspol in January as the OSCE chairman-in-office.
