Montenegrin Ministers of Foreign Affairs and European Integration and Justice, Igor Luksic and Zoran Pazin, discussed Montenegro’s progress and remaining challenges on its Euro-Atlantic path with Mr Stoltenberg today.
They attended today’s meeting of the North Atlantic Council (NAC) in Brussels, and their visit was a part of the intensified and focused talks that NATO is conducting with Montenegro.
As it was stated at NATO website, the Secretary General and Allied ambassadors had commended Montenegro’s considerable reform efforts and encouraged the country to continue on this path.
“They welcomed Montenegro’s commitment to regional security and cooperation. Mr Stoltenberg underscored that Montenegro had repeatedly demonstrated that it shared NATO’s values, and thanked Montenegro for its continued contributions to NATO’s Resolute Support mission in Afghanistan,” it was stated on the web site.
NATO member states positively assessed a significant and notable progress that had been made in all four key areas, which showed that Montenegro had a good chance to get NATO invitation in December.
As the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and European Integration communicated, the recent election of the Chief Special Prosecutor and special prosecutors for suppressing organised crime, corruption, terrorism and war crimes was particularly welcomed, as well as creating conditions for the Agency for Anti-Corruption to start its work. They commended the results achieved in the reform of the judiciary, encouraging the continuation of further activities in this direction.
“In terms of public support for membership, the member states have stressed that the growing trend showed by the last surveys is very encouraging, emphasising their belief that the visit of the NAC to Montenegro in October is to contribute further growth,” it was said in the statement.
Deputy Prime Minister Luksic and Minister Pazin had a separate bilateral meeting with NATO Secretary General, during which they further discussed the activities planned for the rest of the year.
Montenegrin officials expressed satisfaction with Mr Stoltenberg‘s successful visit of to Podgorica and thanked for the support for Montenegro’s efforts which is priceless to our future membership.
