26 July 2018 - Prime Minister of Montenegro Duško Marković hosted the Prime Minister of Romania, Vasilica Viorica Dăncilă, who is paying an official visit to Montenegro.
Following very successful official talks, Prime Minister Marković said that Montenegro, in the first year of its NATO membership, proved to be a credible ally who intends to continue in the same direction, well-thought-out and strategically, and took the opportunity to congratulate Romania on its first forthcoming presidency of the Council of the European Union.
"We particularly appreciate the visit of Prime Minister Dăncilă ahead of Romania's first presidency of the EU Council next year, in the first half of 2019. At the same time, we want to congratulate you in advance and wish Romania success during the presidency and thank you for the fact that Montenegro and the Western Balkans are already high on their agenda," the Prime Minister said at a press conference following a meeting of two government delegations.
He also expressed his satisfaction with the fact that the relations between Montenegro and Romania are at the highest level and added: "Our relations are excellent, improved by the alliance in NATO, and Romania is an example of a country that has successfully built its profile within the Alliance and it actively contributes to fulfilling its priorities".
The two officials talked about Montenegro's priorities and expectations in the European Union negotiation process, as well as security and current political issues in the region and Europe. Prime Minister Marković said that Montenegro and Romania share goodwill when it comes to more intensive economic cooperation between the two countries.
"Dialogue with allies is at the highest level, and we welcome that because it is important and necessary to regularly exchange views on current topics. As we know, there are currently many serious, both political and security issues, and Montenegro and Romania share similar challenges and interests," Prime Minister Duško Marković said.
Romanian Prime Minister Vasilica Viorica Dăncilă pointed out that Romania supports the EU integration of the Western Balkan countries and emphasised that this is one of the priorities of Romania's future presidency in the EU Council.
“We are an advocate for the regatta principle – the individual merits of each candidate country," Prime Minister of Romania Dăncilă said.
She said that she had very constructive discussions with Prime Minister Marković and emphasised that in the future, the two countries will pay more attention to sectoral cooperation and cooperation in the field of energy, education, culture and tourism, as well as cooperation in the field of investments.
"We decided to organise an economic forum together to present one of the first steps in promoting cooperation between the two countries," Romanian Prime Minister Vasilica Viorica Dăncilă concluded.
