President of Montenegro Pays Official Visit to the Slovak Republic

President Ivan Gašparovič welcomed President Vujanovic of the Republic of Montenegro on the occasion of his first official visit to Slovakia.

The dominant topics of the discussions included integration issues, specifically Slovakia’s experience and Montenegro’s ambitions. According to Ivan Gašparovič, the accession of Montenegro into the EU will not be easy and many concessions and compromises will have to be made.

The Slovak Republic, based on its own experience, can both recommend the integration of Montenegro as such, and offer its assistance in the integration process. The Slovak President declared his country’s interest in the development of bilateral cooperation and in the signing of an intergovernmental agreement on cooperation in combating organised crime, including an agreement on official development assistance to Montenegro.

The Presidents also discussed issues of economic cooperation and the promotion of tourism, as Montenegro has vast untapped potential in this area. The President of Montenegro underlined the importance of his official visit to Slovakia, which he said “is viewed as a special event also in Montenegro”. He expressed his respect and appreciation to the Slovak Republic, in particular for its attitude toward the Montenegro referendum, by which Slovakia acknowledged the will of the Montenegrins to decide independently on their own future.

The Presidents also discussed the Kosovo issue, both agreeing that this issue should be solved in such a manner that would not destabilize the entire Western Balkans. As far as the issue of Kosovo’s independence is concerned, the Slovak President said the reasons responsible for the current situation in Kosovo need to be discussed as well. Regarding the Kosovo issue there is no explicitly fair solution in his opinion, and Europe cannot be oblivious of the solution to Kosovo’s status.