Second day of NATO ministers of foreign affairs meeting: Bilateral meetings of Minister of Foreign Affairs Srđan Darmanović

Brussels, Belgium (7 December 2016) -- A question of relations between NATO and Ukraine, as well as the engagement of the Alliance in Afghanistan through the Resolute Support Mission were discussed on the second day of the ministerial meeting in Brussels. It was iterated the commitment of member states to the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine and cooperation programs which NATO and its member states implement in order to strengthen the system of defence and security of the country. Ministers stressed the importance of NATO's engagement in Afghanistan during the 2017 on same level as before, and repeated once again a commitment to the sustainability of the Afghan defence and security forces through a financial contribution by 2020.

During his stay in Brussels, Minister Darmanović had a series of bilateral meetings.

At a meeting with the UK's Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson, it was stated that the United Kingdom confirmed the importance it pays to Montenegro with its rapid ratification of the Accession Protocol. The officials agreed that the soonest possible completion of the ratification process in the remaining states and the formalisation of Montenegro's membership in NATO will be a positive signal for the other Western Balkans countries, to the progress and stability of which the United Kingdom will remain committed.

Minister Darmanović also had a bilateral meetings with the ministers of foreign affairs of Greece (Nikos Kotzias), Slovenia (Karl Erjavec), Belgium (Didier Reynders) and Norway (Borge Brendel), whereby was repeated the support of these countries for Montenegro's integration into NATO, which will be soon confirmed by the ratification of the NATO Accession Protocol.

Minister Kotzias expressed the readiness of Greece to support the European integration of Montenegro through the concrete projects and cooperation programs, particularly in education.

In talks with the Slovenian minister of foreign affairs Karl Erjavec, Minister Darmanović expressed his gratitude for the continuous support of Slovenia for Montenegro's integration into NATO and the EU. In order to further improvement of cooperation, they agreed that the Minister Darmanović visit Ljubljana as soon as possible.

At the meeting with Minister Reynders, two ministers exchanged their views on the situation in Montenegro and the region, with the assessment that the best way to respond to the numerous challenges is the integration of the Western Balkans countries into the EU and NATO as well as strengthening of the comprehensive reforms.

Minister Brendel stressed the full support of Norway for Montenegro's Euro-Atlantic integration, which is directly related to the strengthening of stability and security in the Western Balkans region, and which is in the interest of Norway, Europe and the entire Euro-Atlantic area.

Minister Darmanović had a brief meeting with Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign and European Affairs of the Slovak Republik Miroslav Lajčák.