Moldova's West-leaning Prime Minister Vladimir Filat will hold talks on Friday in Germany with Igor Smirnov, head of Russian-speaking breakaway region Transnistria, under the auspices of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE).
"The aim of the meeting is to improve the level of trust between the two sides [...] We hope to create the conditions for the start of official talks [on resolving the conflict]," Filat told Reuters on the sidelines of an economic forum in Krynica, Poland.
"The very fact that this meeting is happening is important," he said, adding that the presence at the Berlin talks of representatives from the European Union, the United States, Russia and Ukraine also gave them greater weight.
Practical issues such as restoring landline telephone links between Moldova and Transnistria and cross-border rail freight will also be on the agenda, Filat said.
Transnistria, a strip of land running down the eastern rim of Moldova, has been outside the control of the central government in Chisinau since fighting a brief war after the collapse of Soviet rule in 1992.
Russia – which supplies Moldova with most of its energy needs – and European Union member Romania have long vied for influence in the landlocked country of 4.5 million.
Wedged between Romania and Ukraine, Moldova is one of Europe's poorest countries with an average salary of $240 a month. Poor job prospects have driven many young Moldovans to go and work abroad, depriving the nation of skilled labour.
Looking to Europe
Moldova has begun talks on an association agreement entailing closer economic and other ties with the European Union, and Filat drew a link between that process and resolving the separatist conflict.
"The process of reintegrating our country depends above all on the success of the process of our integration with the European Union," he said.
Moldova is negotiating a visa-free regime with the EU – an important goal for a country with nearly one million citizens living and working mostly illegally in the bloc – and hopes to conclude an agreement "soon", Filat said.
Chisinau also hopes to get a green light at a meeting of EU leaders in the Polish capital Warsaw at the end of September for talks on a free-trade agreement with the Union, Filat said.
But Moldova is under heavy EU pressure to reform its judiciary system and weed out corruption.
It has also lacked a full-time president for nearly two years due to a dispute in parliament pitting Filat's centre-right coalition against the Communist opposition.
Filat saw little prospect of an early end to that deadlock, which has hampered EU-backed reforms.
"This is a problem for the whole country, not just for the government. We need to find a compromise," he said.
Despite its poverty and the territorial dispute, Moldova is one of Europe's fastest growing economies, expanding by 6.9% last year and tipped to grow by 7.5% in 2011.
Poland, which holds the EU's rotating six-month presidency, is a strong supporter of efforts by its eastern neighbours such as Moldova and Ukraine to move closer to the bloc.
EurActiv with Reuters
