Opening statement for NAC with Montenegro by NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg

Jens Stoltenberg, NATO Secretary-General - Opening statement for NAC with Montenegro
Brussels, December 2, 2015, 8:30

Welcome and good morning to all of you.

The NATO Foreign Ministers have just taken a historic decision to invite Montenegro to start accession talks to become the twenty-ninth member of our Alliance.

We congratulate the government of Montenegro and the people of Montenegro on the efforts, and on the achievements.

This is a very good day for Montenegro, a good day for the Western Balkans, and a good day for the whole Alliance.

Well before Montenegro became independent in 2006, your country embarked on a unique journey: to re-establish itself as a sovereign country, to consolidate its democratic institutions in accordance with European standards, to strengthen the rule of law and to re-integrate with the rest of the continent.

Since 2009, NATO and Montenegro have worked closely together through the Membership Action Plan. We have had substantial discussions on reform, on regional security and on many other topics.

All through these years, we saw your country’s unwavering commitment to our common values and to international security. Today, we see the concrete results of this commitments.

Of course this is not the end of the road.
Important work remains to be done: on defence adaptation, on domestic reform especially rule of law, and to continue to make progress in demonstrating public support for Montenegro’s NATO membership.

These are issues that we will continue to monitor as we start the accession talks and during the ratification process.

Montenegro’s accession to NATO will be another important step in the Euro-Atlantic integration of the entire Western Balkans region. And it makes clear that NATO keeps its door open, to complete our vision of a Europe whole, free and at peace.

And therefore I am very glad to have Foreign Minister (Igor) Lukšić and Defence Minister (Milica) Pejanović-Đurišić with us today in this meeting to celebrate this milestone.

We look forward to welcoming you as a member of our alliance.

So Minister Lukšić, you have been here many times before this is the first after we decided to invite you to become a full member. So welcome and glad to see you again. You have the flor please.

Thank you.