In Tiraspol, Amb. Michael Kirby met with the leadership of the Transnistrian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Chairman of the Transnistrian supreme soviet [parliament] Yevgeny Shevchuk. The diplomat said his visit was necessary to establish direct contacts with the legislative and executive power branches of the Transnistrian region. He said the Embassy wants to get information on what is going on here directly from the first hands.
Here, the interlocutors discussed perspectives of negotiation restarting, region's economic problems, in particular the drought consequences that entailed such great damage to the Transnistrian farm sector.
Ambassador Kirby said his Government stands for resuming direct talks between Chisinau and Tiraspol. He is not ruling out that his country may render economic assistance to Transnistria to help overcome the drought consequences.
As Infotag has already reported, the 2007 summer drought in Moldova has been internationally recognized as catastrophic. The official Chisinau applied to international organizations for help. When such help started arriving, Moldovan Prime Minister Vasile Tarlev stated readiness to share it with Transnistria, "if such a request comes from Tiraspol". In reply, Transnistrian leader Igor Smirnov stated Tiraspol could accept the help, but was not going to beg it, "because help is rendered out of good will, not on a special request".
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