We would like to thank Head of Mission Hill and General Aussedat for their reports, especially on the status of the removal of Russian troops, equipment and ammunition from Transnistria.

The agreement reached at the Istanbul Summit by Russia and Moldova represents a milestone toward fulfilling long standing OSCE commitments to the early, orderly and complete withdrawal of Russian forces from Moldova.

In particular, it dispenses with the notion that the Russian withdrawal must be synchronized with a political resolution of the Transnistria conflict. This formula has long been a recipe for inaction, since it gives the Transnistrian authorities effective veto power over the withdrawal.

The OSCE must hold all parties to the terms of the agreement reached at Istanbul, and not accept subsequent unilateral redefining of the terms by any of the parties.

We look forward to the early elaboration of an action plan for implementing this agreement in full by the end of 2002. The immediate dispatch of an assessment team to Transnistria would be a good first step.

The U.S. Government is prepared to offer concrete financial assistance in this regard. We have already made a voluntary contribution of $100,000 to the OSCE for destruction or removal of Russian arms and ammunition from Moldova, and have determined that an additional $43 million can potentially be used to facilitate the destruction or removal of Russian arms and ammunition from Moldova and Georgia. Those funds, however, will not be at our disposition for an unlimited time.

We encourage other OSCE states to help facilitate this work as well.