July 10, 2018 - London is the host town of the summit that gathered primarily Western Balkan countries, but also countries that are cooperating with this region and that has an interest in the region. Representatives of Montenegro are currently staying in London, and some, among many topics being discussed, are European Union integration, security and policy questions, borders and immigration problems.
On this occasion, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Montenegro Srđan Darmanović participated in the meeting of the Foreign Ministers of Western Balkan countries. The Participants in the ministerial meeting, hosted by the Minister of State for Europe and the Americas Alan Duncan, were the Foreign Ministers of Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Macedonia, Kosovo, Croatia, Bulgaria, Poland, top officials from Austria, Germany, Italy, Slovenia, France and European Commissioner for Neighbourhood Policy and Enlargement Negotiations Johannes Hahn.
The officials exchanged opinions on regional security, resolving open bilateral issues and migration. They also discussed modalities of greater participation of young people in activities carried out under the auspices of the Berlin Process, the role of the civil sector, the digital agenda and entrepreneurship.
Minister Darmanović stressed that Montenegro continues to develop friendly relations with its neighbors, based on the principles of mutual trust and respect, recalling that the priorities of Montenegrin foreign policy are strengthening regional cooperation and good neighborly relations, closely related to the process of integration and meeting the political criteria for membership in the EU.
A Montenegrin representative in the London Summit was also the country’s Minister of Interior Mevludin Nuhodžić. During this opportunity, he said that Montenegro, as a responsible state, is strongly committed to fighting organized crime and terrorism and preventing the proliferation of small arms and light weapons, and therefore calls for closer cooperation between the countries of the European Union and the Western Balkans in the fight against illegal trade weapons.
“I am convinced that joint activities at the regional and international level, as we witness today, can effectively respond to transnational threats and security challenges. In that sense, we support the adoption of the Roadmap for a sustainable solution to combat illicit possession, misuse and trade in small arms and light weapons in the Western Balkans, which confirms the importance of profiling regional priorities towards an integrated and comprehensive approach, as well as a more proactive fight against arms trade,” said Nuhodžić.
Prime Minister of Montenegro Duško Marković also actively participated in the meeting in London, and by this occasion he said that the Western Balkans has brought many positive developments over the past year and a half, but that the leaders of the countries of the region must continue to cooperate in order to create new opportunities, primarily for opening new jobs and creating a better perspective for young people.
“Young people are the biggest capital we have in the Western Balkans. We need to do more to create new opportunities for them, and these new opportunities are possible if the economy is progressing and if we create new jobs. We in Montenegro do this through the Berlin Process, last year's economic growth was 4.3, and in the first quarter of this year 4.5 percent. Thousands of jobs are being created for young people. In tourism, which is 24% of our GDP, we have very high-quality jobs - in five months we have opened 1,000, and over the past years we have opened 26,000 small and medium enterprises. But our people are not ready to work at those positions,” the Prime Minister said.
