News

On September 11-14, 2011, non-governmental experts from the EU, Moldova, Russia, Transnistria, Ukraine, and the U.S. met at the Frankenwarte Academy in Wuerzburg, Germany for the first session of the Transnistria Conflict Resolution Task Force (TCRTF), supported by the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung, the Institute for World Economy and International Relations of the Russian Academy of Sciences, and the European Union and UN Development Program.Modeled on the Dartmouth Dialogues that promoted “sustained dialogue” between the West and the Soviet Union during the Cold War, the TCRTF hopes to build upon this process in order to build mutual trust and respect among all parties involved in the Transnistria conflict. The primary goal of the Task Force is not to resolve the conflict or decide on Transnistria’s final status, but to develop a bette r understanding of each stakeholder’s interests while exploring opportunities to enhance confidence, and preparing a multilateral network to do the essential work of connecting high-level policy decisions with civil society in the context of a future resolution to the conflict.

The inaugural TCRTF meeting produced fruitful discussions about the conflict’s impact on people’s everyday lives, the role of outside actors such as Russia and the EU and conflict resolution mechanisms. Participants concluded that concentrating on confidence-building measures and civil society initiatives would help ease the current political stalemate in the Transnistrian conflict settlement process and support the recently announced resumption of formal 5+2 negotiations. In keeping with the format of “sustained dialogue,” the Task Force will reconvene six months from now to assess progress, evaluate new challenges, and suggest ways to move forward.