Minister Darmanović in Zagreb: Euro-Atlantic integration of region should not be halted

Minister of Foreign Affairs Srđan Darmanovic participated today in the international scientific conference "NATO enlargement in the Western Balkans" organised by the Atlantic Council of Croatia and the Embassy of Montenegro in Zagreb. In addition to Minister Darmanović, the participants were addressed by Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign and European Affairs of the Republic of Croatia Marija Pejčinović Burić and President of the Atlantic Council of Croatia Radovan Vukadinović.

Minister Darmanović spoke on the first panel entitled "Southeastern European Countries, NATO Members" and stressed that Montenegro, since the restoration of its independence til full membership in the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation, has passed a relatively short but tough path, at a time of intensified tensions between the East and the West, and has achieved one of its two foreign policy goals, and thus, for the first time in its history, has become part of the Western democratic values.

Speaking about the future of NATO and the aspirations of other countries of the region, the Minister stressed that Montenegro will strongly advocate the active presence of the Alliance in the Western Balkans, with the assessment that Euro-Atlantic integration in the region should not be halted.