15 November 2018 - The first Consular Forum organized by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Montenegro is being held on November 15 and 16 in Podgorica.
The Minister of Foreign Affairs of Montenegro Srđan Darmanović, who opened the Forum, expressed his satisfaction that Montenegro is the host of the first Forum that brought together representatives of seventeen countries, with the aim of exchanging experiences and views on the current situation in the area of visa policy, the challenges of migratory movements and consular services in the era of globalization, and pointed to the importance of a continuous strengthening cooperation in these areas.
"Thanks to the joint efforts over the past few years, we have made significant progress towards better cohesion in a number of areas, especially in culture, justice, internal affairs, education and science. With this same goal, we have organized the Forum, convinced that the result of this two-day work will contribute to the even better relations of the participating countries," said Darmanović.
Referring to the achievements of Montenegro in terms of foreign policy priorities, he stressed that our European and Euro-Atlantic partnerships guarantee the security of the country and the security of business and investment environment and that consular activities have an important role to play in that. The Minister concluded that Montenegro successfully fulfills all the obligations arising from the visa liberalization, and thanks to such a policy of the Government, Montenegrin citizens can travel today without visas in 100 countries of the world, while citizens from 104 countries can, without visas, stay in Montenegro.
In the context of the Global Pact on Migration and the upcoming meeting in Marrakech and in connection with one of the topics of the Forum, Minister Darmanović also pointed to the need for cooperation and joint action in relations to the more and more frequent migration movements. In this regard, he stressed that Montenegro seeks to maintain regular communication with the countries of the region and other partners, continuously developing mechanisms and strengthening the capacities in order to provide an adequate response to all challenges, with full respect for international standards.
The first Consular Forum in Montenegro lasts for two days, and the list of representatives includes the ministries of foreign affairs of Albania, Austria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Italy, Kosovo, Macedonia, Poland, Romania, Slovenia, Slovakia and Turkey.
