Statement issued by Prime Minister Milo Djukanovic following the meeting with UN Secretary General Kofi Annan

Montenegrin Prime Minister Milo Djukanovic met today at the UN headquarters with Secretary General Kofi Annan. After the meeting, the Prime Minister issued the following statement to Radio and Television of Montenegro:

By way of reminder, I recently had the pleasure of meeting the Secretary General in Belgrade, and today I had an opportunity to continue the dialogue and introduce some of the topics that presented themselves in the meantime. Therefore, we discussed the issues concerning the development of Montenegro and the Southeast Europe. Security issues dominated the conversation, with an emphasis on the role of the UN in resolving those issues.

In addition, we discussed the realization of the United Nations millennium goals. Secretary General Annan expressed admiration for the efforts invested by Montenegro in the implementation of those goals and acknowledged our pains to secure the sustainable development concept. We talked about the recently finished New York conference and the Secretary General spoke highly of its results and announced further support from the UN in pursuing the sustainable development policy, as well as the assistance from specialized UN agencies, first of all the UNDP.

It was inevitable for us to touch on the subject of security in the region. That was an opportunity to inform the Secretary General that there had been improvements in relations between Serbia and Montenegro since political tensions regarding statehood issues diffused. I clearly pointed out that the issue would be resolved in compliance with the Belgrade Agreement and that it could no longer pose any kind of threat to security in the region.

Unfortunately we were unable to discuss the situation in Kosovo in the same spirit, bearing in mind the latest aggravation of the situation due to last months events. We agreed that there had been certain setbacks in the implementation of the standards that were supposed to create conditions for the negotiation on the final status of Kosovo and that the entire international community was now focused on accelerating the process and creating conditions for full European and Euro-Atlantic integration of both Kosovo and the entire region.

Mr. Annan expects Montenegro, being a good example of multiethnic stability in the region, to act as a partner to the UN and other international factors in resolving that issue. I confirmed our readiness to be of assistance, not only politically and verbally, but also in terms of organization and logistics.

/from the statement to Radio and Television of Montenegro/