The partners confirmed the long-standing friendly Slovak-Montenegro relations as well as the mutual interest in strengthening them, which should also be facilitated by the planned visit of the President of the Slovak Republic Petr Pellegrini to Montenegro in May.
An important topic of the meeting was the accession process of the Western Balkan countries to the European Union, in which Montenegro, by opening three negotiation chapters last year, underlined its position as a leader among the candidate countries. This was confirmed by EU Enlargement Commissioner Marta Kosova at this year’s Munich Security Conference, as well as at the latest meeting of the informal Group of Friends of the Western Balkans in Rome.
“Montenegro has a historic opportunity to become the next Member State of the European Union. We believe that it will maintain the current momentum of the reform processes and we will soon be sitting together at the same table. Slovakia fully supports our Western Balkan partner on its path to the Union, at the same time by sharing our expertise, which we are ready to continue,” said State Secretary M. Eštok and recalled that the Slovak Republic is a principled supporter of the EU enlargement process on the basis of individually achieved results.
The meeting was a follow-up to the January meeting of the Second State Secretary of the Slovak Diplomatic Department Rastislav Chovanec in Podgorica, which focused on the development of the dialogue between Slovakia and Montenegro in the economic and investment field. The trade exchange amounts to almost 50 million euros annually, so the aim is to increase the turnover.
“Montenegro is our close partner, but economic cooperation is still lagging behind the above-standard political relations. Our intention is to strengthen mutual trade, including through the existing Joint Commission for Economic Cooperation,” informed State Secretary M. Eštok, adding that the Commission had identified opportunities for cooperation in areas such as tourism or energy.
The Secretaries of State also discussed the situation in Ukraine and the Middle East, as well as the steps taken by the new US administration and their impact on the European Union and the Western Balkan countries.
Source: Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs of the Slovak Republic
