Foreign minister Srdjan Darmanovic participated at the meeting of NATO foreign ministers in Brussels on Friday. He emphasised Montenegro’s commitment to the key tasks of NATO through contributions to the alliance’s efforts to deter, defend and maintain stability.
In accordance with Montenegro’s status of an invited country, Darmanovic participated in all the meeting sessions.
The foreign ministers of the alliance discussed the implementation of decisions made on the Summit in Warsaw in the fields of defence, deterrence and projecting stability beyond the borders of NATO, particularly focusing on the fight against terrorism.
“They also reiterated the commitment of all alliance members to achieve the NATO standard of allocating 2% of GDP for defence as soon as possible, which will contribute to a more balanced and fairer distribution of the burden of European defence costs among the members,” the Defence Ministry said in the statement.
The ministers reiterated the commitment to the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine and underscored the need to respect and implement the Minsk agreement.
Darmanovic presented the current moment in the ratification process, and in this context, expressed strong satisfaction with the outcome of the US Senate vote on ratification,” the ministry said.
The allies welcomed the pace of ratification of the protocol and strongly supported the upcoming formalisation of Montenegro’s NATO membership.
Darmanovic had brief meetings with NATO secretary general Jens Stoltenberg, US secretary of state Rex Tillerson, the UK foreign secretary Boris Johnson, deputy prime minister of Slovakia Miroslav Lajcak and the foreign ministers of Slovenia, Croatia and the Netherlands, Karel Erjavec, Davor Ivo Stier and Bert Kunders.
