July 05, 2018 - Yuval Rotem, an Israeli diplomat, the General Director of the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs, is currently on an official visit to Montenegro. During his stay, he pointed out that this is his first visit to the Balkans and that the main goal of his visit to Montenegro is to look at the potentials Montenegro can have primarily for Israeli investors.
During his stay, Mr. Yuval Rotem met with Montenegrin Minister of Defence, Mr. Predrag Bošković. Minister Bošković highlighted that Montenegro and Israel maintain traditionally friendly relations and expressed his particular satisfaction with the strengthened cooperation of the two countries in the field of defence in the past year, with a special focus on modernization and equipping, as well as cyber defence. Boškovic informed the Israeli representative of the current priorities and plans for the development of the Montenegrin defence system and explained the specific contributions of the Army of Montenegro to the collective defence system. The Director-General, Rotem, praised the development of the defence cooperation of the two countries and commended Montenegro's efforts in ensuring stability within and outside its borders, as well as the results of the reforms undertaken, resulting in full membership in NATO. In addition, Rotem pointed out that the State of Israel will continue to support Montenegro in the area of improving national defence capacities.
In order to enhance the possibility of intensifying cooperation between the two countries, the Director General of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Israel, Yuval Rotem, also met with the Minister of Sustainable Development and Tourism, Pavle Radulović. At the meeting attended by the ambassador of Israel in Montenegro, Alona Fisher Kamm and the Director General of the Directorate for EU Integration, MORiT's international cooperation, Igor Građević, it was estimated that successful cooperation has been achieved so far and that there is a large space for its improvement. The Israeli side is particularly interested in cooperation in the field of tourism, but also for other economic spheres that they would consider prospects for investment.
Montenegrin Minister of Culture, Aleksandar Bogdanović also had the opportunity to meet Mr. Rotem, on which it was determined that there is an interest of both Israel and Montenegro for establishing cooperation in archaeology domain. Minister Bogdanović informed the Israeli representatives that the first contacts were already established in order to involve Israeli archaeologists in the research of Duklja and added that besides Duklja, excellent potential for cooperation can be seen in the prehistoric locality of Red Rock. Both parties agreed that in the coming days they will define a list of priority projects that they will work together in the upcoming period.
As the conclusion of his conferences with Montenegrin representatives, Mr. Rotem determined that the cooperation between Montenegro and Israel is beneficial to both countries and that The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the State of Israel will provide support in the implementation of joint projects.
