President Pavel concludes his visit to Montenegro

Today, President of the Republic Petr Pavel and Mrs Eva Pavlova concluded their official visit to Montenegro at the invitation of the Montenegrin Head of State, Jakov Milatović. During the two days, President Pavel met with the country's top political leaders. In addition to the President, he also met with Deputy Prime Minister Filip Ivanović and four other ministers. The President also visited two universities, where he debated with students and civil society, and centres dealing with cyber security or disinformation influences, and launched a business forum.

"The main objective of this visit was to support Montenegro on its path to the European Union and at the same time to appreciate its membership and alliance within NATO. I believe that EU membership is the right thing not only for Montenegro but also for other countries in the region to be secure and prosperous," President Pavel said, adding: "Another important point of the trip was in particular the deepening of bilateral relations, not only at the political level, but also at the economic level."

The programme began on Tuesday, 21 January, with an official welcome of the presidential couple by the President of Montenegro, Jakov Milatović, and his wife, and a tête-à-tête meeting where the two statesmen had the opportunity to talk face-to-face. After the meeting of the presidential delegations, Peter Paul moved on to the historic town of Cetinje, where he met with representatives of civil society at the Faculty for Montenegrin Language and Literature. This was followed by a tour of the Museum of King Nikola I and the honouring of the thirteen victims of the tragic New Year's Day event in Cetinje with a silent commemoration at the memorial site.

In the afternoon, the President of the Republic and his Montenegrin counterpart opened a business forum with the participation of Czech and local entrepreneurs. This was followed by a visit to the Atlantic Council's Digital Forensics Centre, a non-governmental think-tank analysing disinformation influences in the country.

The delegation started Wednesday's programme with a visit to the government's Cyber Security Operations Centre, which was established in direct response to the massive cyber-attack in the summer of 2022, followed by informal talks between President Pavol and Czech businessmen and a meeting with the Deputy Prime Minister of Montenegro for Foreign and European Affairs, Filip Ivanović. During the working lunch, the President also met with the local Ministers for European Union Affairs and Transport, as well as the Ministers of Defence and State Administration.

In the afternoon, President Pavel and President Milatović met at the University of Montenegro, where they discussed cooperation between the two countries, European integration and the current political situation.

In the evening, President Pavel and his delegation moved on to Sarajevo, where they will visit Bosnia and Herzegovina for two days.

Photos from the visit can be found below via this link 

castle.cz/ gnews.cz - RoZ

PHOTO - Zuzana Bönisch