Chisinau, May 13 (Interfax) - Chisinau is set to step up its efforts to settle the situation in Transdniestria, Moldovan Reintegration Minister Viktor Osipov said.
"Chisinau supports regular contacts with Moscow and very soon Moldovan officials will travel to Kyiv to meet with new Ukrainian leaders, as well as to Vienna to discuss the issue [the Transdniestrian conflict] with an OSCE (Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe) mediator," Osipov told a press conference after his visit to the United States on Wednesday.
"All this is our attempt to strengthen confidence in the negotiating format," he said.
The role of the European Union and the U.S. in the Transdniestrian settlement process must increase, Osipov also said.
"Even if the EU and the U.S. are just observers, we hope they will play an important role in the final resolution of the conflict," he said.
"[During my trip to the U.S. I] managed to draw the attention of U.S. politicians to the need to put the Transdniestrian issue higher on their agenda," Osipov said.
"While in Washington, I met with a number of high-ranking U.S. officials from the National Security Council, the House of Representatives, the Senate, Pentagon, which is already important in itself," Osipov said.
"The ultimate goal of the Moldovan government is to convince all parties to pay more attention to the settlement process," he said.
