Meeting Vucinic - Wallander

Defence Minister Boro Vucinic received today Celeste A. Wallander, Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Russia/Ukraine/Eurasia.

Minister Vucinic said that the overall relations with the United States as a strategic partner are very positive.

"We are strongly committed to fulfilling the obligations of our strategic goal - Euro-Atlantic integration through the Membeship Action Plan and the Annual National Programme, as well as to partner commitments in peacekeeping missions. Montenegro is currently Chair of the A5 (the US-Adriatic Charter), and we are working hard on forming a joint unit of trainers that would, hopefully since autumn, start training the Afghan security forces in Kabul within the transition process in Afghanistan", minister Vucinic said.

He stressed the importance of continuing cooperation in the project of weapon proliferation according to the Technical Agreement with the U.S. Government.

Minister Vucinic has also stressed the importance of the visit by U.S. company Raytheon that gave a high quality proposal for building a system of supervision of the sea, which Montenegro wants to manage through relevant institutions at the state level and in cooperation with its neighbors and partners.

Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense Celeste Wallander commended progress that Montenegro is making on its way of Euro-Atlantic integration. She said that partnership with Montenegro is meaningful and pointed out that the U.S. supports regional approach within the A5 initiative.

"Your participation in Afghanistan is very important too, and it shows that not only the U.S. but other countries as well are involved in peacekeeping missions ", Valander said.

She commended the commitment to meeting the partnership goals and said that the United States will in this context support the project of developing a system for supervision of the sea which was presented by American company Raytheon.