“This has been an opportunity to thank the President Zeman and the Czech Republic for their support to Montenegro’s European and Euro-Atlantic integration. I have expressed the hope that the friendly Czech Republic will be among the first countries to ratify the accession protocol on Montenegro’s membership in NATO”, said Vujanovic.
He added he was satisfied with cooperation in the field of reconstruction and modernisation of the railway infrastructure.
“The Czech Export Bank financed the reconstruction with about €100m. Two Czech companies have executed the very reconstruction and modernisation and completed an important corridor in Montenegro between Podgorica and Niksic, ie between the Capital and one of Montenegrin industrial centres, providing a good railway connection between the two cities. This success of both Czech bank and the companies is the best recommendation for further cooperation in this field”, said Vujanovic.
Vujanovic also said he discussed cooperation in energy sector with his counterpart, as well as partnership with Skoda Praha company, which is supposed to construct the Thermal Power Plant (TE) Pljevlja second block.
“We said we expect the interstate agreement, which is supposed to be concluded between the two governments and ratified by the two Parliaments, would be completed as soon as possible and that Skoda Praha would get the opportunity to begin construction of the TE second block as soon as possible”, said Vujanovic.
The two officials also agreed that tourism was an important area of cooperation.
Zeman said that the Czech Republic fully supported Montenegro’s efforts to become a full member of the EU and NATO.
“We highly appreciate the successes Montenegro has achieved on that path. I want to say that I had the opportunity to talk to my friends who have visited Montenegro several times and have found that this is a wonderful place to live. A lot of Czech tourists have recently visited Montenegro and I hope your visit will contribute to increasing the number of tourists. Let me repeat what I have already told president Vujanovic. I have rarely met a president whose political career has been so similar to my own. Both of us used to be parliament speakers and PMs. And now, both of us are presidents of our states. But I have to admit that Mr. Vujanovic has an advantage – in addition to these posts, he also used to be an interior minister,” Zeman said.
