The fact that the delegation of Montenegro at the session of the General Assembly of the United Nations (UN) in New York will be led by the Minister of Foreign Affairs and the Deputy Prime Minister Ervin Ibrahimovic, and not the president or prime minister of the country, shows that politics is faster than creating international contacts that would be useful for the country, although this is not the first time.
This stems from the views of the interlocutors of "Vijesti", who commented on what ni Jakov Milatovic i Milojko Spajic will not represent the country in the UN, due to obligations regarding the upcoming local elections in Podgorica.
The unwritten rule is that the president and the prime minister take turns traveling to New York every September, and it has almost always been respected since 2006. Milatović attended the session of the UN General Assembly last year.
On Monday, Spajić announced that he had canceled his visit to the annual meeting of the General Assembly, as was announced, in order to deal with the "Europe Now 2" program, which the President of Montenegro is contesting.
"The president wants workers not to feel Europe now 2 in October, and neither pensioners in January. Precisely because of this case, I will have to cancel my trip to New York and I will have to deal with Europe now 2. Apart from the trip to Brussels, I will not go on any other trip, because I want all laws for Europe now 2 to be adopted," said Spajić on conference to the media.
Laws are not adopted by the prime minister, but by the parliament, so it is not clear why it is necessary for Spajić to be present in Montenegro for that reason. At the end of the month, local elections will be held in Podgorica and Kotor.
Professor of international relations at Boston University and former ambassador of Montenegro, Vesko Garcevic, told "Vijesti" that he was surprised that at such a large gathering as the UN General Assembly, Montenegro was not represented by any of the highest state officials.
"The UN General Assembly is the largest gathering of its kind and takes place once a year. All the heads of state come there, almost 193 of them every year in September in New York. It is an extraordinary opportunity to have different kinds of contacts with the people who are there. "Most people don't actually come there just to give that speech for 15 minutes, but they come because of multilateral activities - because of the meetings that take place continuously, almost until late at night during the session of the General Assembly," said Garčević.
For two days, the Government of Montenegro will not answer the questions of "Vijesti" about who from the Government will go to New York, how many members of the delegation were supposed to go to New York, when the Prime Minister canceled his participation and whether there will be any costs due to the cancellation of tickets and stay and if will, how big will it be.
The question of why it is necessary for the prime minister, as he said at the press conference that "the president wants workers in October not to feel Europe now 2, nor pensioners in January" and that precisely because of this case he will have to cancel his trip to New York and to deal with Europe now 2, when it does not depend on him but on the Assembly.
The Public Relations Bureau of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MVP) informed "Vijesta" that the Minister of Foreign Affairs, as part of his regular activities, participates in the session of the GSUN, and that every year there are numerous meetings at the ministerial level, which are held simultaneously with the General Debate. .
"The platform for participation in the General Debate of the 79th General Assembly of the UN, in which the composition of the delegation will be specified, will be available to the public, according to the usual procedure, upon approval at the Government meeting", announced the MFA.
It happened before that the delegation of Montenegro was led by the Minister of Foreign Affairs. Thus, in 2020, a delegation of 12 representatives was led by the then head of diplomacy Srdjan Darmanovic. After that, in 2021, his successor in office traveled to New York Đorđe Radulović, and there were a total of five people in the delegation, including him.
Another distinguished Montenegrin diplomat explained to "Vijesti" that countries avoid sending only the minister of foreign affairs, but that it is no offense if they cannot send the president or prime minister. He explained that the MFA also represents the country, only that those countries speak at the end of the agenda, because they go for preference - the heads of state speak first, then the heads of government, and then the ministers of foreign affairs.
"The fact that they gave up in our country for the sake of the election is not a violation either."
The diplomat said that the General Assembly is the world's largest forum, and those countries strive to be represented at the highest possible level, especially if they have something to say.
"Smaller countries generally fit into that agenda. As far as I remember, Montenegro was represented only once at the level of ministers, but always tried to be represented at the level of the head of state or prime minister".
Last year, two Montenegrin delegations traveled to New York, which is an unprecedented case. One was led by the Prime Minister in a technical mandate Dritan Abazovic, who was also the coordinator of the MFA, and the other was the head of state, Jakov Milatović, and they each had ten members (20 in total).
The 10th session of the UN General Assembly began at the headquarters of the United Nations in New York on September 79.
According to the media, the week of high-level meetings will be the main part of the session, and discussions on the sidelines of the event will be held from September 24 to 30, with a break on September 29.
In recent years, among the countries whose delegations were led by ministers of foreign affairs were Russia, which will do so again this year, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Spain, China, Hungary...
Garčević: We are sending an image that we are not well organized
Vesko Garčević said that "the opportunity to be there and have all these people in one place, have the conversations that are necessary and see someone in that place that you otherwise would not have had the opportunity to see, is something that should not be missed." .
"What image are we sending - definitely an image that we are not well organized. Again, we return to the fact that even the implementation of that planning policy is not coherent in our country, and depends on the will of individuals, and this is clearly visible. This picture definitely contributes to the fact that, as far as I know, we do not have ambassadors in the UN Mission, we do not have ambassadors neither in America nor in many other countries. This shows the state of our diplomacy," Garčević assessed.
He said that if it was necessary to save money, then a smaller delegation could have gone or they could have used diplomats who are already in New York and Washington for help.
"I think that saving is not the main reason, but politics. You see what the relations between the president and the government are like at this moment," said Garčević.
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