United States Assistant Secretary for Europe and Eurasia, James O'Brien said that Montenegro is a strong NATO partner and expressed optimism that the current government will continue on the path of deeper European and transatlantic integration.
Mr. O'Brien made these comments on Monday in Podgorica in a conference with journalists after the meeting with the Montenegrin Prime Minister, Milojko Spajic.
Senior American official O'Brien, who earlier today also met with the Chief State Prosecutor, noted the achievements of the new Montenegrin government.
“I am convinced of Montenegro's commitment to the European path. The fact that the prosecutors are acting at full capacity is a great achievement of the government. The institutions that have been built will work for the benefit of the citizens,” said Mr. O'Brien.
On January 27, the Parliament of Montenegro elected Milorad Markovic as the chief state prosecutor, after more than five years of crisis in Montenegro's most important judicial institution.
Mr. O'Brien expressed satisfaction for the possibilities of cooperation with the current government and for the fulfillment of obligations to NATO.
“We are pleased to be able to cooperate with Montenegro and we are pleased that Montenegro meets the obligation to allocate two percent of gross domestic product to defense,” O'Brien said.
When it comes to the EU, O Brien said a package is being prepared for Montenegro that should reduce financial costs and speed up transport.
“We hope this will make life easier for everyone. The purpose of the dialogue between America and Montenegro is to open doors and this is the image we want to convey to people from the business community,” said O' Brian.
The Prime Minister of Montenegro, Milojko Spajic, said that the focus of the conversation with the American official was the economy and that he expects the American economy to be much more interested in the Montenegrin market.
“We appreciate our American friends who were really very constructive regarding the Montenegrin-American economic dialogue,” said Spajic.
Mr. Spajic said that Montenegro has prepared a plan of about 90 reforms, which will bring Montenegro closer to the EU market and said that Washington is following these reforms.
“For Montenegro, this is a key moment when our history is being realized for Montenegro, as a Singapore of Europe,” said Prime Minister Spajic.
Milojko Spajic's government was elected last October, with the support of the Europe Now Movement, the Democrats, the pro-Serbian Socialist People's Party, the recently disbanded pro-Russian Democratic Front party and the Albanian National Party.
The election at the end of October last year of the new government of Mr. Milojko Spajic was the third since the parliamentary elections of 2020, when after three decades the Democratic Party of Socialists of former president Milo Djukanovic was replaced.
However, the new government was met with obvious reservations due to the fact that the governing majority included a former leader of the pro-Serb and pro-Russian political coalition in Montenegro, Andrija Mandiç, who was given the post of the speaker of the parliament. Montenegro.
However, these days, the Montenegrin government received visible support from Brussels, where European officials hailed the progress achieved in Montenegro in just three months of government.
It is very positive to see Montenegro fully focused on its accession goal, making good progress, the EC said.