NEWS

Prime Minister Borut Pahor after the official visit of Montenegrin Prime minister Milo Đukanović: "We must not shy away from our responsibility to the countries of the Western Balkans"

The Prime Minister of the Republic of Slovenia, Borut Pahor, today hosted the Prime Minister of the Republic of Montenegro, Milo Ðukanović, who visited Slovenia at his invitation. In his statement to the press after the meeting, the Slovenian Prime Minister highlighted the fact that this was the first official visit of a Montenegrin Prime Minister to Slovenia and therefore a special day, and that the visit took place in an atmosphere of excellent political relations that are being developed and additionally strengthened with new agreements to the benefit of the two peoples. "Prime Minister Đukanović and I today agreed that there are no open political issues burdening the relations between our two countries and peoples", said the Slovenian Prime Minister. During today’s official visit, Slovenia and Montenegro signed a social agreement.

   

Economic cooperation between the two counties is extremely important. "The financial crisis has had a severe impact on the economic cooperation in this part of Europe, however, Slovenia has never hesitated to invest in Montenegro, considering it a trustworthy and long-tem partner, with which Slovenian investors have established clear relationships in good faith", emphasized Prime Minister Pahor. Slovenia has always supported Montenegro's ambitions in the Euro-Atlantic arena, and will continue to do so, convinced that the future of the whole Western Balkans, not only Montenegro, depends on the progress of each country in the region. "The economic crisis has slowed down the process of enlargement of the EU, as the European leaders mainly focus on the measures necessary to resolve the crisis, and devote less attention to enlargement issues than they would in other circumstances" said Prime Minister Pahor and added that at meetings in Brussels he often cautions against such lack of attention, as enlargement will benefit not only the new members, but even more so the Union itself. Moreover, Slovenia wishes to establish good political and economic relations with all the countries in this part of the Balkans, and does not shy away from the responsibility it has as a member of the EU and Nato to assist in solving the problems of neighbouring countries in the Western Balkans. In this context, Premier Pahor stressed the activities in this direction carried out within the Brdo Process.

  

In his statement to the press, Prime Minister Đukanović thanked Prime Minister Pahor for the invitation and expressed satisfaction with his first official visit to Slovenia. "For me this is a perfect opportunity to thank Slovenia, its Government and Prime Minister Pahor for their promotion of the Euro-Atlantic perspective of my country in Europe. With Prime Minister Pahor we today confirmed our belief that the Western Balkan countries’ integration into Nato and the EU is the prerequisite for stability in this part of the region", said Montenegrin Prime Minister Đukanović adding that he was deeply grateful to the Slovenian Prime Minister for the valuable mission and genuine and systematic support provided to Montenegro and other countries in the region in their efforts to reach the thresholds Slovenia had already passed.