First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign and European Affairs Vesna Pusić today in Budva attended the fifth 2BS (To Be Secure) Forum, dedicated to future prospects of global security architecture. Attending a panel discussion on “Positioning NATO on the Global Chessboard” alongside Pusić were Albanian FM Ditmir Bushati, Bosnian FM Igor Crnadak, Bulgarian FM Daniel Mitov and Montenegrin FM Igor Lukšić.
“It would be very important if we sent from this conference the message that Montenegro is absolutely ready to receive the invitation by the end of this year and become a member at the next summit,” Pusić said. Croatia, which was invited to join in 2008 and did so the following year, believes it is very important to have a stable neighbourhood, which is why it supports Montenegro on its path and believes it should join NATO, Pusić said. “By joining the European Union and NATO, Croatia acquired political and every other kind of maturity and security on an everyday basis,” she added. NATO has changed since Croatia's accession, so we should talk about NATO's new role, Pusić said.
Mitov spoke of threats to the democratic order, from what Islamic State is doing to Russia's threats in Ukraine, saying the response had not been timely, in 2008, during the Georgian crisis. “Our task now is to keep our transatlantic unity as tight as possible,” he said. He too pushed for Montenegro being invited to NATO by the end of the year because of unity in the defence of democratic values.
Bushati said the process of drawing closer to NATO membership was useful to the countries doing it as well as to NATO in terms of security and stability. “Better coordination between NATO and the EU and the countries in the region is crucial, considering the current situation in Macedonia,” he said.
Crnadak said that Bosnia and Herzegovina, as a partner country, supported a NATO invitation to Montenegro and that there was a consensus in his country about cooperation with NATO but not about membership.