Washington: Implemented reforms recommend Montenegro for the final phase of NATO integration

Washington, the USA (30 April 2014) -- During his working visit to the US, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs and European Integration Igor Lukšić is currently participating at the Atlantic Council’s conference entitled “Toward a Europe Whole and Free,” which is taking place in Washington, DC, on the occasion of several Europe and NATO’s jubilees.

On the first day of the conference, during his address at the panel entitled “Consolidating Europe’s South,” DPM Lukšić underlined the progress Montenegro has made in the four key areas related to Euro-Atlantic integration – rule of law, reform of defence and security sectors, and boosting public support for NATO membership.

DPM Lukšić concluded that reforms we implemented thus far in the two complementary processes of EU and NATO integration, our very active role in regional cooperation mechanisms, and our contribution to peace-keeping missions world-wide are among the achievements that recommend Montenegro for the final phase of NATO integration at this September’s summit.

DPM Lukšić stressed that the job is still not done in the Balkans, and that an invitation to Montenegro at the Wales summit would serve as an excellent opportunity to improve the stability and security in the region and would contribute to the completion of the project of a Europe whole and free. He noted that strong NATO’s open-door and EU’s enlargement policies are the most efficient instruments in the process of consolidating Europe’s South.

The conference was also attended by US State Secretary John Kerry, who met briefly with the ministers who attended the conference. In his introductory address he said that the Ukraine crisis is an invitation to the Alliance to rekindle the purpose for which it has been founded, which is to defend the territory and improve the security of the trans-Atlantic area. State Secretary Kerry urged the member-states to raise their defence budgets, improve energy cooperation, and to conclude in the nearest future the negotiations on the Trans-Atlantic Agreement on trade and investment with the view to promoting economic cooperation even further.

On day one, DPM Lukšić met with a number of ministers and other conference participants, as well as with Congressman Michael Turner, the chairman of the US parliamentary delegation to NATO and member of Montenegro caucus at the US Congress.