North Macedonia has learned its lessons from the past and has secured its place in the NATO Alliance, stated the Montenegrin President Milo Gjukanovik at the joint press conference with his Macedonian colleague Stevo Pendarovski.
Before the press conference, there was a meeting at the presidential residence.
Gjukanovik said that it is obvious that Macedonia has learnt the lessons from the past by solving the name dispute.
The relations between Montenegro and Macedonia have never stopped and we have a tradition of great relations. Our relations are friendly, we provide mutual support for each other and we share common goals. We are already part of NATO and we are negotiating with the EU. We think it is important to support North Macedonia on its journey. We think this is a road without any other alternatives. Because of well-known reasons, North Macedonia has stopped its step on its journey of EU integrations, but I think those lessons were learned and major progress and advancement have been made. North Macedonia has secured its place within the NATO Alliance. We believe that there has to be no doubts because we think it is time for new dynamics in the EU’s policies – said Gjukanovik.
Pendarovski said that the collaboration will continue onward.
-Our two states are connected by a joint past, but more than that, we are connected by a common future, prosperity towards joint Europe, and as a country, we appreciate Montenegro’s support. I want to stress that Montenegro was among the first countries that provided their support. I received an assurance from Gjukanovik that the support will continue in the future. We agreed that there is no greater power than the Eur- integration processes. North Macedonia will cooperate and through the offered help and a prime example is the defense collaboration. North Macedonia and Montenegro are friendly countries with close ties and the relations between them are getting stronger – said Stevo Pendarovski. When asked about the visit by the US Secretary Pompeo he said that this means that the US is returning to the Balkans region.
-The last visit on this level occurred 19 years ago by Colin Powell. This is not a courtesy visit. According to the countries he is visiting – Italy, Montenegro, our country and it ends with Greece, means that he is not visiting the region to solve disputes, but to give accolades to those that acted with an example. His visit is symbolical for the return of the USA in the Balkans Region. Our country’s key issues were solved with the US support and couldn’t have been solved unless the US weren’t involved. – said Pendarovski.
The Montenegrin president is on a first official visit by a foreign president to North Macedonia during the mandate of President Penadrovski.
