Transdniestrian settlement: CMI’s high-level dialogue group’s visit to Latvia

On 20-23 April 2015, members of CMI’s High-level Expert Dialogue Group on the Transdniestrian settlement, both from Chisinau and Tiraspol, visited Riga. The visit was organised by CMI in cooperation with the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Latvia. It was done in the framework of the Latvian Presidency of the Council of the European Union in 2015.

The group had the opportunity to explore Latvia’s experiences in designing integration policy in a multi-ethnic and multi-lingual society. The key topic discussed with the Latvian foreign policy interlocutors was how to maintain stability in the Republic of Moldova and Transdniestria in the current complex geopolitical environment, as well as how to identify cooperative solutions which would address the key concerns of all sides.

The visit to the country provided CMI’s dialogue group with an opportunity to create links and liaise with policymakers and civil society in light of Latvia’s EU Presidency. Meetings were held with the Foreign Ministry, the Ministry of Culture, the Riga City Council and the Society Integration Foundation. The group also met with a number of think tanks and human rights NGOs, as well as experts in bilingual education.

As always, the meetings with the Latvian interlocutors were combined with internal dialogue sessions between the dialogue group members. These sessions were focused on the joint implementation of the group’s current action plan for 2015.

CMI implemented this activity with funding support from the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland.