Minister of Foreign Affairs and European Integration Milan Rocen hosted today a farewell visit by UNDP Regional Director for Europe and CIS Kori Udovicki.

Minister Roćen thanked for a tremendous contribution by Regional Director Udovicki to the development of Montenegro and the region as a whole, her support to the coordination development in completing various projects that are constantly being undertaken jointly by the Government and the UNDP in various areas of economic and social development (e.g. sustainable development, social inclusion, democratic governance and capacity building). He said that the UNDP and other UN agencies are among the key partners in the Government's development plan and its meeting of domestic and foreign priorities.

Minister of Foreign Affairs and European Integration Milan Rocen will host tomorrow, 28 November 2011, UNDP Regional Director for Europe and CIS Kori Udovicki.

Minister of Foreign Affairs and European Integration Milan Rocel hosted today Director of the Directorate for Western Balkans in the European Commission's Directorate General for Enlargement Pierre Mirel.

Minister Rocen thanked the European Commission, Directorate General and the EU Delegation to Montenegro for the support and assistance in the European Integration process, and to Mr Mirel in particular for his personal contribution. He underlined that the hitherto achievements are a result of joint efforts and excellent cooperation between Podgorica and Brussels. Mr Rocen stressed that Montenegro will continue to implement the Action Plan with same vigour regardless of the European Council's decision, which is expected to acknowledge Montenegro's hitherto progress. In this context he reiterated that the date of the beginning of accession negotiations is more important for the reform process and true progress than the very end of the negotiation process and welcomed the European Commission's new approach which will give additional impetus to Montenegro's efforts to stand up to the key challenges.

Minister of Foreign Affairs and European Integration Milan Rocen will host tomorrow, 25 November 2011, Director of the Directorate for Western Balkans in the European Commission's Directorate General for Enlargement Pierre Mirel.

The meeting will take place in the Cabinet of the Minister at 12 noon.

The Consultative Meeting of the IPA Monitoring Committee which will discuss the implementation of projects under the national programmes IPA 2007 – IPA 2010, as well as further activities under the ongoing process of the 2012-2013 programming will take place on Friday, 25 November 2011 in the old Government building, ul. Jovana Tomaševića bb, Plenary Hall, beginning at 9:30 am.

The Government will be represented by the chairman, State Secretary for European Integration at the Foreign Ministry and National IPA Coordinator (NIPAC) Slavica Milačić, and the European Commission will be represented by Director of the Directorate for the Western Balkans at the DG Enlargement, Pierre Mirel.
The media are invited to record the opening of the meeting.

Minister of Foreign Affairs and European Integration Milan Roćen met today in Jerusalem with his Israelis counterpart Avigdor Lieberman, with whom he signed the Culture Cooperation Agreement.

Mr Lieberman expressed his context with the development of relations between Montenegro and Israel at the bilateral and multilateral levels and conveyed the readiness of Israel to work on boosting the overall cooperation and in particular the economic ties between the two states. He said the agreement signed today is an additional step towards a strong legal basis for cooperation and at the same added underlined that in the recent period the two states should continue improving the legal framework for cooperation. He congratulated Mr Roćen for the fact that the Jewish Community in Montenegro has been founded and added that this further testifies to the excellent relations between the two countries and peoples.

Permanent representative of Montenegro to the UN Ambassador Milorad Scepanovic and acting permanent representative of the Republic of South Sudan to the UN David Buom Choat signed on 21 November 2011 Protocol on Establishment of Diplomatic Relations between the two countries. Interlocutors agreed on the importance of this step for further development of cooperation between Montenegro and South Sudan on both bilateral and the multilateral level.

Minister of Foreign Affairs and European Integration Milan Roćen will depart tomorrow to Israel at the invitation of the Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman, with whom he will open the the business conference entitled "Doors towards Montenegro".

Minister of Foreign Affairs and European Integration Milan Roćen hosted today the newly appointed ambassador of Canada Roman Waschuk, with whom he discussed the bilateral relations, the ways to improve them, and the European and Euro-Atlantic integration.

Both sides agreed that in the time to come additional efforts need to be invested towards enhancing political contacts at all levels, which will contribute to the further progress of cooperation between the two states. They particularly underlined the importance of strengthening economic ties and attracting new Canadian investment to Montenegro, especially in the areas of energy, agriculture, and infrastructure, which is in line with Montenegro's domestic development priorities.

Minister of Foreign Affairs and European Integration Milan Roćen hosted today the delegation of the Czech Republic's Senate headed by the president of the Committee on EU Affairs Ludek Sefzik.