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Montenegro's Euro-Atlantic integration vital to W. Balkans: Hungarian FM

Xinhua, February 14, 2015 Adjust font size:

Hungary is committed to supporting Montenegro's Euro-Atlantic integration because it is vital to the stability of the Western Balkans, Hungarian Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Peter Szijjarto told a Friday news conference in Budapest.

Szijjarto spoke after a meeting with his Montenegrin counterpart, Igor Luksic.

Montenegro is the closest to NATO and European Union (EU) integration of all the Western Balkan countries, Szijjarto said, adding that the faster the country joined these bodies, the more secure the region's stability would be. Given current changes in global politics and the world economy, destabilization in the region could be fatal, he said.

Hungary has supported, and will continue to support, Montenegrin efforts to integrate, the Hungarian FM said, calling on NATO to issue a formal invitation to the country, and the EU to speed up negotiations.

Luksic pointed out that Hungary was well acquainted with the Western Balkans, which made his country particularly grateful for Hungarian support. Montenegro was ready to join NATO, Luksic said, and would do whatever it takes to be admitted, adding that his country was already making a series of reforms in legal security, general security, and in building democratic institutions.

Szijjarto said Hungary was the EU's second largest investor in Montenegro and that the Hungarian National Trading House had opened a mission in Podgorica while Hungary's Eximbank had offered 45 million euros (about 51.3 million dollars) in credit to small and medium-sized enterprises to encourage their cooperation.

Luksic underlined the significance of cooperation between the two countries in the energy field, which he hoped would become more concrete in the weeks to come. Endit