Press release: Prime Minister Milo Djukanovic meets newly appointed Norwegian Ambassador to Serbia and Montenegro Haakon Blankenborg

Today in Podgorica, Prime Minister Milo Djukanovic met with the newly appointed Ambassador of the Kingdom of Norway to the State Union Haakon Blankenborg, who is making an official visit to Montenegro.

Having welcomed His Excellency, the Prime Minister voiced his appreciation of the support and assistance the Government of the Kingdom of Norway had provided to Montenegro in the implementation of programs and projects in various fields economy, health, education, science and culture. Estimating that recent bilateral relations had displayed an upward trend, he stressed Montenegros interest in having Norwegian partners presence in infrastructure projects in the field of energy, shipping industry, maritime economy, tourism, health and environmental protection. In this respect, the Prime Minister recalled that the investment in ProMonte by Telenor of Norway was Montenegros first important significant foreign investment.

Ambassador Blankenborg gave credit to the Government and other state institutions of Montenegro for recent significant achievements made both in terms of internal socio-economic development and relations with neighboring countries. He informed the Prime Minister that cooperation in the ongoing and new projects would be continued in a spirit of friendship. He estimated the initiative to make joint efforts to explore the opportunities for stronger Norwegian presence in concrete projects as useful, considering the fact that economic cooperation was moving from the stage of development support to the stage of business initiatives and express interest in Montenegros privatization process.

The Prime Minister also informed the Ambassador of the current political and economic situation in the Republic and the course of preparations for the referendum on Montenegros state status. He emphasized that the restoration of full statehood, in a process that would observe all international standards and the strictest European practice, was supposed to expedite Montenegros progress towards European and Euro-Atlantic integration.

Since the Norwegian Embassy is at the same time the State Unions point of contact with NATO, mutual interest was recognized in all possible forms of cooperation in that domain as well.

The Prime Minister expressed confidence that the Government and other institutions would provide all necessary support in strengthening relations and cooperation between the two countries.