Justice Minister Pažin meets with US Ambassador to Montenegro Margaret Uyehara

Brussels, Belgium (14 April 2015) – The United States will continue to strongly support Montenegro in strengthening its institutional framework in the fight against corruption and organised crime through expert assistance and advanced training programmes, US Ambassador Margaret Uyehara said earlier today at a meeting with Minister of Justice Zoran Pažin.

Ambassador Uyehara voiced pleasure with the cooperation between the Justice Ministry and the Office of Resident Legal Advisor at the US Embassy in Podgorica, hoping the current reform efforts at legislative and institutional level in strengthening the rule of law will contribute to stronger balance of the results the citizens of Montenegro will directly benefit from.

Minister Pažin underlined that the forthcoming period is of particular importance for the valuation of Montenegro’s efforts towards EU and NATO. Keeping in mind that strengthening the rule of law is the cornerstone of both processes, he informed Ambassador Uyehara about activities towards finalising legislative reform, as well as the establishment of the anti-corruption agency.

The meeting agreed on the US support for the process, which will be reflected in preparing a set of bylaws and building the IT systems for secure data exchange with relevant institutions, in line with the Annex to the Agreement on Law Enforcement between governments of Montenegro and the United States.