Milojko Spajić0:02
Dear colleagues from NATO, I'll switch to the local language because I think that's also very important that we deliver the message. First of all, I would like to thank our dear friend Mark, who is a great friend of Montenegro, and the entire team who is here today. We had a very constructive meeting which perhaps lasted a little bit longer than envisaged, and we apologize to our colleagues from the media because of that, but I think it was a very productive meeting. Also, you mentioned yourself at the meeting that Montenegro is one of your easier destinations where you can talk about positive topics, and we can also discuss some good things we expect in the future and which are already taking place. First of all, I would like to note that the capacities of our military have been significantly strengthened in the past years, and the citizens have been able to see that. According to Eurobarometer, the latest survey of the European Commission which was published 7 days ago, the trust in our military is at the historical maximum of 88%. And just to illustrate, to compare these figures, these figures were far below 50% for so many years, and now we have this level of trust of the practically entire nation, of all the ethnical identitarian groups. All of them stand behind the military of Montenegro and behind its mission, and that's a major deal. This is something that we have to be so proud of because the most severe enemy is the internal enemy, the enemy from within. When we are cohesive, when we act together, when we have entire population, entire state behind us, then we are the strongest, and that's when we can contribute the most to everybody else. And that is why I am saying that we have already contributed and we have invested a lot into our military. The investments are also at their inception nevertheless. I think we've done a lot of good things, but there are yet many good things that have to take place in the future. With the US, we are going to have an interstate agreement already this June, and we are hoping that on this occasion we will be able to work on critical infrastructure, namely the infrastructure which is dual use, both for civilian and military use. We will also have some investment implemented together with the Canadians, with the Germans, with some other nations, and so on and so forth. So, great days are ahead of the military of Montenegro, and thereby I believe we will be much more productive and much better NATO member. Montenegro stands ready, of course, in the context of the Balkans, and has always been ready. You know, Montenegro is Western Balkans zoomed in. We have small populations. We don't have ethnic majority here. We are the only country perhaps in Europe without ethnic majority, but that's not our weakness, that's our strength. And from this position, we can contribute significantly in the Western Balkans to de-escalating the situation, to appeasing the situation by connecting each other and by better understanding each other. And you also mentioned our mission in KFOR in Kosovo. We also have our people deployed in Bosnia-Herzegovina in other capacities, in other roles. We have people elsewhere, and we are really doing our best to be a constructive factor, which will be a cohesive factor. So, this doesn't have to do with NATO, but through the Berlin process, we will have also a very significant role already in October, and I'm hopeful that we will be able to bring the Western Balkans closer to the European Union and to the West. So, I believe that Montenegro and the Western Balkans in the future will be sending out much nicer news than perhaps when you used to be Prime Minister or in some previous periods of time. Thank you so much. Thank you.
