Distinguished media representatives,
To my great pleasure today, I warmly welcome the President of Montenegro, Milo Djukanovic, who is paying an official visit to North Macedonia, which is also the first visit of a foreign President to our country in my term.
Hence, it is a pleasure for me to have the honor of hosting a president of a close and friendly country, such as Montenegro.
At today’s meetings, we concluded that the relations between North Macedonia and Montenegro continue to develop in the spirit of friendship and cooperation, without open disputes. My friend Milo and I agree that the two countries foster excellent political relations and share the same foreign-policy priorities and goals.
We also discussed the regional cooperation, which, although faces challenges, offers the chance and hope for further improvement of the relations between our two countries. As two countries that are actively involved in regional relations, in order to improve stability, friendship and mutual understanding, we looked at other issues in the region in the context of the Euro-Atlantic integration.
Our two countries are linked by a common past, but even more by a shared future – leading our countries on the path to peace and prosperity towards a united Europe.
As a country, we especially appreciate the clear and unequivocal support from Montenegro in achieving our top strategic goals – NATO and EU membership. I would like to emphasize here in particular that Montenegro is among the first countries that ratified the accession protocol for our membership in the Alliance.
I received assurances from President Djukanovic that Montenegro’s support will continue in the future, and we jointly stated that it is necessary for the European Union to recognize the moment and North Macedonia this month to finally get a date for the start of accession negotiations.
We agreed that there is no greater driving and transformative force in our societies than the Euro-integration processes, which lead to cooperation and building societies with highest European standards and principles. In this regard, North Macedonia and Montenegro also cooperate through the assistance offered in the technical-operational and methodological aspects of leading the EU accession process, in which Montenegro is at a much more advanced stage than we are.
Example of the well-founded relations between North Macedonia and Montenegro is the defense cooperation. Namely, cadets from Montenegro are educated at our Military Academy, while it is in our interest our pilots to be trained on the Montenegro Flight Teacher Course.
I can freely say that North Macedonia and Montenegro are firmly committed to full European and Euro-Atlantic integration, to meeting the Berlin Process agenda and other regional cooperation formats.
Integration, stability, good relations between the two countries at different levels we see as necessary conditions for the economic development of our countries and for improving the living standard of our citizens. In the interest of the citizens, we should make efforts to promote the economic cooperation, where there is much greater potential for a far better result than before.
Finally, I would like to emphasize once again that North Macedonia and Montenegro are two friendly and close countries with mutual understanding, that are constructive and active in regional cooperation and I believe that, in the interest of both nations, the relations between our two countries will be further enhanced.
Thank you.
