Moldova and Ukraine started the process of demarcation of the state border's central sector on the Transnistrian segment. The first border sign was set near the settlement of Bolshaya Koshnitsa, Yampil district, Vinnitsa region, Ukraine, on 29 January.

Foreign and European Integration Minister Iurie Leanca and Ukrainian Foreign Minister Petro Poroshenko participated in the festive event. The two officials signed a joint declaration on the beginning of the demarcation of those over 400 km of the Moldovan-Ukrainian border on the Transnistrian segment. The Transnistrian side was absent from the ceremony, although it had been invited.

At the ceremony, Iurie Leanca said that the setting of the first border sign on the Transnistrian segment, which is a very difficult one, marks the beginning of the final stage in the arrangement and juridical regulation of the Moldovan-Ukrainian state border.

"The process which we started today may be considered as historical, for mere reason that common mind was reached as late as following 18 years, with the main obstacle being the obstructionist position of the Tiraspol authorities," the head of the Moldovan diplomacy said.

Leanca stressed that the process of border's demarcation is in a strictly European context, as it is an important element for the good-neighbour relations between Moldova and Ukraine. "The border's demarcation will be also an important element in the attempt to identify an as viable as possible solution to the Transnistrian conflict settlement," Leanca specified.

The head of the Ukrainian diplomacy showed content with the cooperation with Moldova's authorities. He specified that the Moldovan-Ukrainian relations have been recording a qualitatively new level over the last time.

During the ceremony, the two officials tackled also social subjects. They said that the Dniestre river's basin requires a more intense involvement on behalf of the authorities, as the residents from both banks deserve living in the vicinity of a clean river. At the end of the event, Iurie Leanca and Petro Poroshenko spoke out for urgently resuming the process of negotiations in the 5+2 format.