Today, this Monday January 18, 2010, the Montenegrin Head of Government, H.E. Prime Minister Mr. Milo Đukanović — accompanied by the Foreign Minister, H.E. Mr. Milan Roćen, was on his first official visit to Bratislava, Slovakia, since Montenegro gained its independence in June 2006. At 09:30am, he was received at the Grasalkovič Palace by the President of the Republic, H.E. Mr. Ivan Gašparovič, and subsequently went straight to the Government Office to hold talks with his counterpart, H.E. Mr. Robert Fico. Following their meeting, the two Prime Ministers gave at 11:30am a joint press conference for medias covering the visit, after which Prime Minister Fico entertained his Montenegrin guests to a working lunch in the Hall of Mirrors of the Summer Archiepiscopal Palace.

During his meeting at the Presidential Palace, in the presence of H.E. Mr. Miroslav Lajčák, Slovak Minister for Foreign Affairs, Prime Minister Đukanović received the assurance from President Gašparovič that Slovakia fully supported the aspirations of Montenegro to joining the European Union (EU) and NATO. “Your country belongs among the successful Balkan States, and that’s important for all the partners in the region, as well as for the whole EU. I am convinced that the Slovak experience of integration into the EU and NATO will be of benefit to Montenegro while achieving its goals,” declared the Slovak President, adding that the EU can never be complete without Montenegro or any other countries of the Western Balkans. As for him, the Montenegrin Prime Minister confirmed to his hosts that Montenegro is ready to continue its reform program as a part of the integration process, mainly in the consolidation of the Rule of Law, the fight against corruption and the reform of the judiciary system. Both sides evaluated bilateral relations between Montenegro and the Slovak Republic as friendly and developing dynamically. They discussed co-operation, especially in the economic sphere, about which they agreed it needed new impulses. Noting that the development of mutual trade and economic co-operation fall significantly short of the potential of both economies, they however welcomed good signs of revival in trade exchanges, which have increased in recent years.

With his Slovak counterpart, at the Summer Archiepiscopal Palace, Prime Minister Đukanović discussed the role played by Montenegro in the stabilisation process of the region — key point about which Prime Minister Fico declared that “his Government recognises Montenegro’s importance as a regional factor of stability”; the organisation of economic forums to evaluate the possibilities of involving Slovak companies in road infrastructure and energy public projects in Montenegro; the establishment of an inter-ministerial commission for economic co-operation between the two countries; the opening of resident embassies in both Montenegro and Slovakia; and the regulation of a state debt amounting €1,130,136 that Montenegro has towards Slovakia — a bilateral issue, dating from the period of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (SFRY), about which Prime Minister Đukanović assured his counterpart of the Montenegrin Government’s willingness to solve the problem in a foreseeable future. Finally, Prime Minister Fico reiterated that Slovakia fully supported Montenegro’s efforts of integration into the EU and NATO, adding that it was the two most appropriate parallel roads to guarantee the global stability in the region of the Western Balkans.