The Minister of Foreign Affairs of Montenegro, Srđan Darmanović, today expressed satisfaction with Montenegro's relations with countries in the region, stating that "relations with neighbors are the pillars of foreign policy".
He had a working breakfast with journalists on the occasion of the two-year mandate of the Government of Prime Minister Duško Marković, which ends at the end of the month.
"Without safe and stable neighbors, we can't do well either, that's why we help them," he explained.
Commenting on relations with Serbia and the fact that its highest officials, President Aleksandar Vučić and Prime Minister Ana Barnabić, did not come to Montenegro, the minister said that they are "the best and most stable since independence, and the cooperation is intense".
He reminded that his colleague Ivica Dačić visited Podgorica.
"We strongly support the authorities of Serbia to become a member of the European Union," said Darmanović, reminding that the country is not interested in the path to NATO and that there are different policies of the two countries.
Regarding the Resolution on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the Podorica Assembly, which was proposed to the Parliament by the ruling coalition, he assessed that relations with Serbia should not be affected, stating that it is an internal political issue.
Darmanović said that Montenegro will not deal with the negotiations between Kosovo and Serbia, that he expects them to continue.
He said that Montenegro will vote again for Kosovo to be a member of Interpol because "there is no reason to change the decision".
"We are friends to both sides, we don't want political tensions in the region, because if there were, we as a small country are always exposed," said the Montenegrin head of diplomacy.
Darmanović said that in the case of the former Prime Minister of Macedonia, Nikola Gruevski, Montenegro acted like any other citizen. More on that HERE>>>
When it comes to Russia, he believes that the time of strained relations is over.
"Russia has its role in the Balkans, it is an expression of what happened in 2016. Russia is a major world power and has its own interests, whether someone likes it or not, but it will remain so. Montenegro has become a member of NATO, as a small country it has no pretensions but they will fulfill their ally obligations. A desirable scenario is that we have relations with Russia like Croatia and Slovenia," he explained.
Answering the question that China is very present in the Balkans, and that this was previously also the assessment of EU Enlargement Commissioner Johannes Hahn, Darmanović said that China's role is being dealt with at the world level as well:
"China has branched businesses all over the world, it is a frequent topic in diplomatic circles when people constantly ask - what does China want. In our case, we see no other motives than economic ones. It wants us to return loans, to make money. China is involved in our politics it doesn't interfere at all," Darmanović said.
Commenting on the issue of the construction of a hydroelectric power plant at Cijevna, in Albania, the minister said that they had sent questions to the Government of Albania, that they were waiting for answers and that everything would be resolved in accordance with good neighborly relations.
Darmanović also said that it is common for some diplomats to be politically appointed and that this is a common practice in most countries.
He announced that Montenegro will open new diplomatic consular offices, and that the staff will be from the existing composition, given that, as he said, there will be no new employment.
In his introductory speech, the minister recalled that the country has 37 diplomatic and consular representations and that membership in NATO is the greatest success after the declaration of state independence of Montenegro.
He reminded of the economic benefits of that tax, and the data that the number of tourists from NATO member countries increased by 25 percent.
Regarding the assessment from the Central Bank's report that many contracts were started earlier, the Minister said that the Central Bank certainly knows that part of its work and explained: "Maybe these are not figures that make your head hurt, but it is important that the most powerful countries in the world recognized that Black Gora is stable for investments".
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