Visas between Montenegro and Japan will be abolished from autumn

Visas between Montenegro and Japan will be abolished from autumn, it was agreed at the meeting of the Prime Ministers Milojko Spajić and the Prime Minister of Japan Shigeru Ishibe, today in Tokyo.

Spajić is on a working visit to Japan, where he was welcomed in Tokyo today with the highest state honors and met with the Prime Minister of Japan, with whom he discussed cooperation between the two countries.

The interlocutors agreed that Spajić's visit to Japan marks the beginning of a new phase of bilateral relations that will chart the future course of Montenegrin-Japanese friendship, the Prime Minister's Office announced.

"This is the first time in our history that a conversation with an official has been conducted in Japanese. I have also read your thesis and am fascinated by your perception, even though you wrote this more than a decade ago. Rest assured that in Japan, Montenegro now has a great friend and supporter of your vision of the development and progress of Montenegrin society," said Ishiba.

The meeting discussed strengthening economic cooperation, and Spajić introduced Ishiba to the potential in the areas of energy, green energy, infrastructure, tourism, ecology, and high technologies.

"We have worked hard over the past year and a half to be ready to launch major infrastructure projects. The next few years will be crucial for the further development of Montenegro and I am certain that they will be marked by a strong infrastructure and reform momentum that will strengthen our economy and improve the standard of our citizens," said Spajić.

Along these lines, it was assessed that there is a huge potential for cooperation with Japan, which is "confirmed by the great interest in Montenegro" during the EXPO 2025 World Exhibition in Osaka. The decision to abolish visas, which will come into effect in the autumn, will be a significant step in that direction, the interlocutors agreed.

One of the topics of the meeting was the opening of the Montenegrin embassy in Tokyo. It was agreed to intensify activities in this regard so that concrete steps in that direction could be expected by the end of the year, the statement says.

It was jointly assessed that it is necessary to work on strengthening cooperation in the fields of education, science and innovation, as well as in the field of disaster risk reduction.

Security issues were also discussed during the meeting, and the strengthened cooperation between Japan and NATO was considered particularly important. In this context, the strong support of both countries for Ukraine was emphasized and the expectation was expressed that with the intervention of American and European allies, a temporary ceasefire and the establishment of peace would occur.

In honor of Spajić's visit, Ishiba organized a working lunch, which was attended, among others, by the Minister of Education, Science and Innovation. Anđela Jakšić Stojanović, Minister of Finance Novica Vuković and Director of the Investment Agency Snezana Ðurovic.