Lavrov: Transnistrian settlement requires additional efforts

The Transnistrian settlement requires additional efforts of all parties involved, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said here on Wednesday, opening the negotiations with his Moldovan counterpart Natalia Gherman. “We value your interest to continue our relations at the level of the Foreign Ministries. We have never interrupted our contacts,” Lavrov said. Moscow hopes that the position that Chisinau put forward in favour of continued friendly relations “will help us to move forward.” In the view of the minister, the countries have some issues to resolve, particularly in economy and humanitarian affairs. “And this is certainly the Transnistrian settlement, this requires additional efforts of all parties involved to settle this lingering problem,” the Russian foreign minister added. For her part, Gherman noted that she hopes to discuss “the whole scope of very rich, open relations” on Wednesday. “We are ready to take further efforts to develop the cooperation between our countries,” she pledged.