Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Ambassador Milorad Šćepanović meet today with the Personal Representative of the OSCE Chairman-in-Office for the Article IV of the Annex 1-B of the Dayton Peace Agreement General Constanzo Periotto. The meeting was held in the framework of General Periotto’s regional consultations with the Member States of the Sub-Regional Arms Control Agreement (SRACA) on the initiative for implementation of the regional ownership principle regarding SRACA.

Interlocutors/collocutors expressed their common contentment with the results of the VII Review Conference for the implementation of SRACA, as well as with the 42 Meeting of SRACA Member States, held in Split, April 2009. In line with the discussion initiated at the Review Conference regarding strengthening of the role and responsibilities of the Member States in the implementation of the regime,  Personal Representative of the OSCE Chairman-in-Office presented a model proposal for reaching this goal. Recognizing the success of the Member States in the implementation of the verification regime, on technical and political level, as well as the fact that establishing of regional ownership over the already formed initiatives presents natural and logical trend, Ambassador Šćepanović and General Periotto agreed that the presented list of proposals represents a good outset for further discussion. Having in mind different starting points of the Member States, interlocutors concluded that it is necessary to take into consideration needs and capabilities of individual institutional capacities in formulizing further steps for the transfer of responsibilities. Ambassador Šćepanović stressed out that insufficient capacities or inadequate equipment of particular institutions should not be an obstacle but a motif for taking over a higher level of responsibility in the implementation of SRACA.

It is a common conclusion that, in a short period of time,  Montenegro has till now successfully fulfilled all the obligations deriving from this Agreement and other arrangements in the field of arms control and confidence building measures, and that it gave its recognizable contribution towards strengthening peace and security in the region.

Interlocutors exchanged views on the situation in the region and agreed that the regional cooperation is the key for a faster integration into the wider political-security structures.