Montenegro to open in the coming months two Honorary Consulates in Canada, one in Toronto and the other in Vancouver

Since his accreditation as non-residence Ambassador to Canada on October 30, 2007, H.E. Mr. Miodrag Vlahović, in post in Washington, D.C., as Ambassador of Montenegro to the United States of America, established close and friendly ties with the Montenegrin Diaspora in Canada — amounting to 2,370 according to the 2006 population census (present day estimated to 4,000-5,000 by the Government of Montenegro), regularly visiting it on the occasion of festive gatherings or working meetings.

In particular, ethnic Montenegrins in Canada are very active through two cultural associations, the Montenegrin Cultural Society of Canada (CKDK) in Toronto, Ontario — created in February 1971 and today presided by Mr. Zoran V. Raičević, and the Montenegrin Society of British Columbia (CDBK) founded in June 2004 in Richmond, B.C. (Vancouver North), and presided since June 2009 by Mrs. Luiza Zlatović from New Westminster, B.C. (Vancouver East); the latter cultural and educational organisation being additionally engaged in promoting businesses of individuals and conducting public relations with national medias. Responding to the long-time request of Montenegrin Canadians to have official representatives of Montenegro in the country, these two organisations have been respectively mandated in 2009 by Ambassador Vlahović to manage the selection procedure of candidates to the posts of Honorary Consuls, one in Toronto and the other in Vancouver.

Parallel consultations have been conducted by last year’s end, and the Montenegrin Society of British Columbia already addressed to the Washington’s Embassy of Montenegro the name of its proposed candidate for Vancouver. The Executive Board of the Montenegrin Cultural Society of Canada will meet in few days, on Friday January 22, to decide on its recommended candidate(s) for Toronto; it will take place at the Centre for Diaspora and Transnational Studies of the University of Toronto, in the presence of its Executive Officer, Mrs. Antonela Arhin, today working in Canada but who has been previously Advisor in the Consular and Legal Department, as well as in the Information and Analysis Department of the Montenegrin Ministry for Foreign Affairs.

Once the two selection processes will be completed and Ambassador Vlahović be notified, applicants’ names will be forwarded to the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Montenegro, that will decide in ultimate between eventual multiple candidacies for a same post, as part of the general approval procedure before initiating their official nomination as Honorary Consul, which is expected in several months.

On February 12-28 and March 12-21, 2010 in Vancouver and Whistler, will respectively take place the XXIst Olympic and the Xth Paralympic Winter Games, on the occasion of which members of the Montenegrin Society of British Columbia have planned both to organise various multicultural events and promotional activities, and to assist on-site people coming from Montenegro to the Olympics, in co-ordination with Mr. Željko Stamatović, Director for Consular Affairs in the Montenegrin Ministry for Foreign Affairs, and Prof. Dr. Milan Vukčević, Director of the Centre for Immigrants.