Young journalists, entrepreneurs and students from both banks of the Dniester River met again in the framework of the IPIS Transnistrian Dialogues program. This time the program of the seminar, which took place from November 27 to 28 in the village of Costesti, Ialoveni district, focused on the role of civil society in the modern world.

 The participants in this project were able to gain new knowledge about diplomacy and the role of civil society in conflict resolution. Antti Karttunen, Deputy Head of the OSCE Mission to Moldova, Kalman Mizsei, EU High level Advisor on Confidence Building Measures, Olga Beinarovica, Political Adviser, EU Delegation to Moldova and Vladislav Kulminsky, former Deputy Prime Minister for Reintegration shared their experiences.

The panel on civil society cooperation in the field of human rights promotion on both banks of the Dniester was opened by Alexandru Stratulat, coordinator of the UN Joint Program “Support for human rights on both banks of the Dniester”. Alexander Gonchar, Director of the Center for Development and Support of Civil Initiatives “Resonance” from Tiraspol and Ruslan Poverga, General Director of the Public Association “Positive Initiative” also spoke on this topic.

An important part of the meeting was the session dedicated to the topic of civil society cooperation in search of solutions to environmental problems. Ilya Trombitschii, executive director of the International Association of the Keepers of the Dniester River Eco-TIRAS, Vladimir Ternavsky, executive director of EcoVisio JSC, and Boris Efros, head of the public environmental movement from Transnistria, spoke here.

Steliana Rudco, Coordinator of Volunteers of the Laolalta Association and her colleague Ion Brynzila, Coordinator of the Laolalta Logistics Department, spoke about volunteer work as a tool for solving problems on both banks of the Dniester.

The Transnistrian Dialogues is a programme of the Institute of Strategic Initiatives aimed at reducing the dividing lines between the two banks of the Dniester River by creating a platform for interaction between their populations. The programme is implemented with the support of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in Moldova.