In the early 1990s, the territory declared independence from Chisinau in response to the first president of independent Moldova striving to integrate with Romania.
"I asked the Russian president to support us in joining the multilateral negotiations on the problem," Mr. Basescu said following his meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Mr. Basescu emphasized that the Transdniestrian settlement was also a matter of security for Romania itself.
"Romania knows the area, the region well, and we could contribute to explaining all Transdniestrian issues," Mr. Basescu said.
Recently, Moldovan President Vladimir Voronin noted Chisinau's readiness for adopting a law on Transdniestria's autonomy during his meeting with the PACE monitoring commission delegation.
He also stressed that Moldova was ready to resume talks on the Transdniestria settlement, but believed they had to be held in an expanded format to involve the European Union, the United States and, possibly, Romania as a neighboring country and a future economic member state.
The current five-nation negotiation arrangement provides for the participation of Russia, Ukraine, OSCE, Moldova and Transdniestria.
In late December 2004, Moldova's president said that Russia's solution to the Transdniestrian conflict via establishing a federal state did not suit his country. According to Chisinau, the Gagauz model may be used with success to settle the Transdniestrian issue. The Gagauz autonomy - a region in the southwest of Moldova whose administrative center is Komrat - has far more power than many constituent parts of some federal states, Mr. Voronin said, adding that Chisinau was ready to offer Tiraspol even more power compared to Gagauzia.
