Bilateral meetings of Minister Darmanović during OSCE Ministerial Meeting

Hamburg, Germany (9 December 2016) -- During the 23rd meeting of the OSCE Ministerial Council in Hamburg, Minister of foreign affairs of Montenegro Srđan Darmanović met with the ministers of foreign affairs of Austria Sebastian Kurz, Canada Stéphane Dion, France Jean-Marc Ayrault, Poland Witold Waszczykowski, Hungary Péter Szijjártó and Georgia Mikheil Janelidze.

With an Austrian counterpart Sebastian Kurz, minister Darmanović exchanged the Action plan on cooperation between the two countries which, inter alia, defines a wide range of cooperation and determines a significant number of bilateral activities during 2017. A special emphasis is put on foreign policy, but also on cooperation in the field of European integration, the Berlin process during the upcoming Austrian presidency of the OSCE, as well as on the fields of defence, interior policy, economy, environment, education, culture, civil society and migration. They concluded that the two countries have excellent relations, which is among other things confirmed by the very intense political contacts in the previous period.

During the meeting with the minister Stéphane Dion, Minister Darmanović thanked Canada for its continued assistance in the process of Euro-Atlantic integration. Minister Dion announced nearly completion of the Accession Protocol ratification in Canada. It was agreed to maintain an intensive communication in the coming period in order to further strengthen bilateral cooperation.

A meeting with the French minister Jean-Marc Ayrault was an opportunity to exchange views on ways to improve multilateral cooperation, primarily in the framework of the OSCE. The importance of continuing to strengthen dialogue and overall cooperation was highlighted.

The minister of foreign affairs of Poland Witold Waszczykowski praised the progress made in the integration process and underlined the importance of finalising the ratification process as soon as possible. He conveyed the Polish commitment to continue strong support to Montenegro on its European path. Minister Darmanović said that Montenegro priced a very dedicated and friendly role that Poland has played in the process of accession of Montenegro to NATO and he conveyed the readiness for further cooperation fostering in the areas of mutual interest.

Speaking with the minister of foreign affairs of Hungary Péter Szijjártó, two ministers expressed their satisfaction with a very good relations between the two countries and highlighted a very active role of Hungary, as a NATO contact country, in the process of finalising the ratification of the Accession Protocol. They also discussed the modalities of strengthening cooperation in the fields of investments, tourism, education and they agreed to continue the communication on these issues.

The focus of talks between minister Darmanović and Georgian minister Mikheil Janelidze was on bilateral relations, the dynamics of fulfilling the obligations towards the implementation of the key foreign policy priorities as soon as possible, with special emphasis on Montenegro's readiness to transfer the experiences in integration process to Georgia.