The Committee on International Relations and Emigrants gave a positive opinion to appoint Stanica Andjic as Ambassador of Montenegro to Vienna, Dragana Radulovic to the Permanent Mission of Montenegro to the United Nations (UN), and Milena Kalezic as Permanent Representative of Montenegro to the Permanent Mission of Montenegro to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).
All present deputies voted in favor of Andjic's election, while when voting for Radulovic, New Serbian Democracy (NSD) deputy Velimir Djokovic was against it, and abstained when they voted for Kalezic.
Anđić pointed out that she has been at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs since the beginning of her work engagement, and that she served at the Multilateral Mission to international organizations in Vienna, but also that for the past year she has been serving as the Charge d'Affaires at the Montenegrin Embassy in Vienna.
"Austria is our sincere partner and friend, which it continuously demonstrates by supporting our key foreign policy priority, which is EU membership," she said.
She added that the country does not fail to say that Montenegro is the best candidate to be the next EU member, but also that there is a consensus within it when it comes to the expansion of the union to the Western Balkans.
"The areas in which Austria is interested are banking, insurance, and energy. Austria is also one of the interested bilateral donors in Montenegro. During the past period, Austria has invested one and a half million in donations for the Accelerated Development Fund of Montenegro," said Andjic.
According to her, Austrian companies have long been present in Montenegro, and Montenegrin cadets are educated at an academy near Vienna.
Djokovic assessed that it is both Andjic's obligation to contribute to Montenegro's integration into the EU, but also that there is an opportunity for economic cooperation in the development of winter tourism.
Chairman Duško Stjepović (Democrats) asked Anđić what the key challenges are at the Montenegrin embassy - whether they are spatial capacities, what he thinks about staff capacities and potential, whether these are general challenges faced by all representative offices, and whether the embassy premises in Vienna are state-owned.
"Quite often, the perception of ordinary people and citizens in relation to diplomats, especially the highest-ranking diplomats, that is, ambassadors, is that they go out there and wander around the world and everything is smooth sailing for them," he pointed out.
Andjic responded that Montenegrin embassies are very small, and that they are usually staffed by an ambassador and one or two other diplomats, but that she works in a great team and that they overcome these problems.
"Working at the embassy is work. We are not people who just went there to walk around, but it really involves intensive work with the diplomatic corps and our institutions. I assure you that this perception is wrong," she said.
Radulović said that she has been in diplomacy for 25 years, and that cooperation with international organizations is a foreign policy priority.
"When it comes to the UN General Assembly, you know that it is the largest and most important body that bases its work on six key committees, and in that sense, we will focus on active participation in their work. Especially since Montenegro is a candidate for membership in the UN Human Rights Council for the third time, so the focus of our activities will be on topics related to the promotion of human rights, the elimination of discrimination, the promotion of gender equality... In addition, we will do everything to chair one of the committees of the General Assembly, which will be a big deal for Montenegro, but of course, it also depends on the regional scheme for the distribution of the chairmanship, but I think there are good chances for that to happen in the next few years," she said.
As she added, this year, Montenegro will hold the position of vice president at the eightieth session of the UN General Assembly.
When it comes to the Security Council, Radulović claims, Montenegro's focus will be on the peaceful resolution of conflicts - from those in the Middle East to Ukraine.
Bosniak Party (BS) representative Admir Adrović said that Montenegro does not have an exhibit in the corridors of the UN General Assembly building, and appealed for this to be resolved during her mandate.
Kalezić noted that, in times of security threats, the NATO alliance is one of the key fields of foreign policy activity.
"After 75 years of existence of such an important military-political alliance, we can conclude that it is the most successful and relevant in history. Of course, in an era of new geopolitical challenges, the alliance is successfully adapting to new challenges and threats that are present from all strategic directions and, therefore, uses a 360-degree approach to address these challenges," she pointed out.
As she added, NATO's return to its regional field of operations in the context of the conventional war we have in Europe is actually part of a broader debate about NATO's multidimensional identity and strategic considerations that existed both before and after the Cold War and changed according to security challenges.
"I am very happy that Montenegro is part of such a system because collective security is what holds us together in the modern world," she emphasized.
Speaking about Montenegro's priorities in NATO, she said that our country contributes to missions, but also monitors more than 20 committees, as many as NATO itself has.
"Strengthening resilience is one of the important goals that is the responsibility of every member state. Every country is equally responsible," said Kalezić.
She added that her priority at the head of the mission will be to focus on the Western Balkans, but also that Montenegro has contributed to putting that region high on the agenda.
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