Head of State Jakov Milatovic and the Minister of Foreign Affairs Ervin Ibrahimovic the day before yesterday, they discussed several potential candidates of the Government for ambassadors of Montenegro, and according to the unofficial information of "Vijesti", at their meeting the mayor of Podgorica was mentioned as a potential candidate for the highest-ranking diplomat in Belgium Olivera Injac, and advisor to the prime minister for security and defense at NATO Todor Goranović.
The source of "Vijesti" from the Government confirmed that Milatović and Ibrahimović met, and when asked if Injac and Goranović were mentioned as possible candidates, he replied with the words that "there are (such) wishes", but that it will be seen whether anything will happen agreed.
Injac is the vice-president of the ruling Europe Now Movement (PES), and she was elected as the leader of the Capital City in April last year. She was the Minister of Defense in the Government Zdravka Krivokapića from December 2020 to April 2022, and recently she was a candidate for Deputy Secretary General of NATO, but was not elected to that position.
From 2000 to 2007, Injac was an independent consultant-analyst in the Ministry of Internal Affairs, in the Public Security Service - Criminal Police Directorate and the Department of Analytics. After that, she worked as an independent consultant in the Department for International Police Cooperation. She was an associate professor at the University of Donja Gorica on security subjects.
When it comes to Goranović, he has been an advisor to the prime minister since spring Milojko Spajić (PES). He was the director of the Directorate for Intelligence and Security Affairs of the Ministry of Defense, and in the summer of 2022 he was sent back to Podgorica from the NATO headquarters in Brussels, only to leave the Army of Montenegro half a year later.
"Vijesti" wrote at the end of March, referring to the claims of several interlocutors from the Army and the security sector, that Goranović's return from the NATO headquarters was allegedly due to a "security problem", but he denied this, saying that his duty was in the Alliance terminated after 52 days for personal and family reasons.
Goranović also denied allegations that in his professional career he was refused permission to access secret data, and said that he left the army service in January 2023 at his personal request.
In Goranović's biography, it is written that he graduated from the Military Academy in Belgrade, and then master's studies in the field of intelligence work and security at the University of Leicester.
He started his military service after graduating from the academy in 2009, working as a financial business analyst at the Ministry of Defense.
From 2013 to 2018, he was an adviser for analytical affairs in the Intelligence and Security Directorate (OBD) of the Ministry, and in the same period he was also a liaison officer with NATO intelligence structures.
He spent the next three years at the NATO Intelligence Fusion Center in Great Britain.
From 2021 to the summer of 2022, he was at the head of the OBD.
According to the Constitution, the president appoints and dismisses ambassadors at the proposal of the Government and with the opinion of the parliamentary committee responsible for international relations.
Last week, Ibrahimović said in the program "Nachisto" on "Vijesti" Television that 22 ambassador positions are vacant. Montenegro has more chargé d'affaires than ambassadors, and there are no diplomats of the highest rank at some important addresses in the world...
The problem of filling the diplomatic network has been going on since the beginning of 2021, i.e. since the cohabitation of the government at the time, headed by Zdravko Krivokapic and the former president of the state Milo Đukanović. There are also problems in appointing diplomats due to disagreements between Milatović and Prime Minister Spajić's government. However, some appointments have taken place in the meantime, hinting that positions at key addresses may be filled.
Ibrahimović, who is also the Deputy Prime Minister, said in the show "Nachisto" that seven ambassadors were appointed in the last three months, announcing that there could be several more.
"We made some progress... Four ambassadors received agreements - for Vienna, Kosovo, Belgrade and Spain. I arranged a meeting with Milatović... where we will continue the story when it comes to career diplomats and when it comes to filling our diplomatic-consular networks at the highest level.
I believe that as responsible people we will find a solution, and I say that the ambassadors will be quality career diplomats", he said.
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