On 21 February 2020, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Latvia, Edgars Rinkēvičs, met with the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Montenegro, Dr Srdjan Darmanović, who was in Latvia on a working visit. The Ministers discussed bilateral cooperation and regional security issues as well as sharing views on developments in the Western Balkans.
During the meeting, Edgars Rinkēvičs expressed satisfaction over the fact that Latvia and Montenegro enjoy good and friendly relations and both countries are close allies in NATO. Latvia is interested in developing all facets of cooperation between the two countries, said the Minister. He added he was happy that an active political dialogue has been established, which is evidenced by the upcoming visit to Latvia by the President of Montenegro, Milo Đukanović this March, as well as by an intensive exchange of visits and meetings in 2019. The Minister also welcomed inter-parliamentary cooperation.
Although the current trade between the countries is rather small, there are opportunities for improving and expanding business contacts, especially in sectors with a high value added, for instance, in information technologies, Edgars Rinkēvičs underlined. The Minister also congratulated his colleague on the opening of a Montenegrin Honorary Consulate in Riga and noted that the expanding of the network of honorary consulates would facilitate economic and regional cooperation as well as promote people-to-people contacts.
The Ministers also discussed the course of Montenegro’s integration into the European Union. Edgars Rinkēvičs congratulated Montenegro on the achievement already made on its path to EU membership, commending the firm alignment of the country’s foreign policy with the EU, which is not just in the statistics, and sends a strong signal for constructive cooperation in the region.
Latvia will continue strongly supporting the EU enlargement policy and an EU perspective for the Western Balkans, said Edgars Rinkēvičs and expressed hope that in March it would be possible to agree on launching negotiations with Albania and North Macedonia.
Edgars Rinkēvičs thanked Montenegro for its participation in the NATO enhanced Forward Presence battle group, which is a major contribution to strengthening security in the Baltic region.