Minister of Foreign Affairs Milan Roćen will depart tomorrow to Istanbul where he will attend a Ministerial meeting of the South East European Co-operation Process (SEECP) Member-States, on the invitation of the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Turkey, Ahmet Davutoğlu. After the meeting, Montenegro will take over the one-year presidency over this important regional initiative.

Minister Roćen will depart to Helsinki on the same day, where he will be in a working visit to the Republic of Finland, on the invitation of the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Alexander Stubb.

Minister Roćen evaluated the bilateral cooperation between the two countries as very good and emphasised that the Roadmap for strengthening of Franco-Montenegrin relations, signed in Paris at the end of last year, has clearly defined the directions of bilateral relations and cooperation in the process of approximating to the EU and NATO. Roćen said that Montenegro highly appreciates the readiness of France to be a co-sponsor of European and Euro-Atlantic paths of Montenegro. He stated expectation that France will continue to provide active support to the enlargement policy and the progress of Montenegro and all countries of the region in that direction.

Ambassador Gazuy said that France strongly supports Montenegro and she emphasised that Montenegro is the only country of te Region with which France has signed a Roadmap. At the same time she conveyed the interest in intensifying of the economic ties and indentifying of the concrete modalities of cooperation, especially in the areas of tourism and infrastructure. Gazuy also said that Montenegro has achieved a great success in realisation of its strategic goals and she conveyed expectation that Montenegro will receive the status of a candidate by the end of the year.

The collocutors agreed that the forthcoming visit of the French Minister for Migration Eric Besson to Montenegro, together with the activities the two countries are undertaking on the implementation of the Agreement on the Mobility of the Youth aimed at funding of the exchange of young experts in various areas, will contribute to the strengthening of the relations between the two countries.

It was agreed that the first meeting of the High Officials of the AII be held in Podgorica on June 27 and 28, 2010, which will represent the official commencement of the Montenegrin presidency over the Initiative. It is expected that on this occasion the State-Secretary of the MFA of Italy Alfredo Mantica will visit Montenegro and meet the MFA Milan Roćen.

For the remainder of the meeting, the collocutors exchanged opinions on the modalities of cooperation of the regional organisations, and they have agreed on the enhancement of cooperation in the areas of common interest.

Minister of Foreign Affairs of Montenegro Milan Roćen will receive today the ambassador of the French Republic, Madame Dominique Gazuy.

The meeting will take place at the Cabinet of the Minister at 15:00h.

Permanent representatives of Montenegro and the Republic of the Fiji Islands to the United Nations, Ambassador Milorad Šćepanović and Ambassador Peter Thomson, signed today the Protocol on the Establishment of Diplomatic Relations at the ambassadorial level between the two countries.

Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs for Bilateral Relations dr Irena Radović received today the Director of the Department for Southeast Europe in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Greece, Charalampos Dimitriou.

Deputy Minister Radović expressed content with the level of bilateral relations and pointed to the potentials of further strengthening the cooperation, especially in the economic realm, to which the exchange of visits on the high level will significantly contribute.

Minister of Foreign Affairs Milan Roćen met with the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Italian Republic, Franco Frattini, after attending the meeting of the Central European Initiative.

Minister Roćen expressed his gratitude to Minister Frattini on his personal contribution to the affirmation of the CEI as an important instrument of cooperation with the EU. He especially underlined the significance of the support that the Government of Italy provides for Montenegro and the countries of the region in their progress towards the EU and NATO and expressed the expectation that Italy will continue to be a constructive partner for Montenegro and the region in their pursuit of the strategic goals.