OSCE: Talks on Transnistrian dispute to open in February

The negotiations on settling the Transnistrian dispute will open in Austria's capital city of Vienna next month, an official with Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) said here Thursday. The first round of talks for this year under the 5+2 format, including Moldova, Transnistria, Russia, Ukraine, the OSCE, the United States and the European Union, will start on Feb. 27, said Radojko Bogojevic, the Special Representative of the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office for the Transdniestrian settlement. Transnistria, a largely Russian-and-Ukrainian-speaking area, declared independence in 1991 from the Romanian-speaking majority of Moldova. Bogojevic concluded his four-day visit to Moldova, the first time after he took the position in January, where he met with the political leadership of Moldova and Transnistria. "I was encouraged by their constructive attitude and their focus on achieving practical results and alleviating problems people face in their daily lives," Bogojevic said. "We are strongly determined to work on the basis of what was done by our predecessors, to facilitate achieving a comprehensive, just and viable resolution of the conflict, and help build confidence between people on both banks of the Nistru River," stressed the official. Preparations for the first round of 5+2 talks were "the key topic", Bogojevic said. Talks on solving Transnistrian dispute have been resumed since 2011 after suspending for six years as Transnistria and Moldova failed to agree on various matters.