Vice President of the Parliament of Montenegro Mr Suljo Mustafić and MP Mr Jasmin Sutović attended the event organised on the occasion of marking the Day of Independence of Montenegro in Kosovo “Day of Montenegrins of Kosovo“, held on 14 May in Priština. The event Day of Montenegrins of Kosovo is being held for the first time, gathering a number of representatives of Kosovian institutions, emigrants from Montenegro, representatives of international community, people from business and cultural life of Kosovo as well as friends of  Montenegro.

During his speech on the topic of “The importance of Montenegro and renewed independence for Kosovo and the region”, Vice President of the Parliament Mr Suljo Mustafić referred to the long history of mutual relations.

- Despite all temptations and mistakes that it had in difficult years of the Balkan drama, Montenegro succeed to save what is the most precious – civil and inter-ethnic relations, which enabled us to build later more easily and faster relations with other regional countries.

In late nineties, by the wise policy war destructions were avoided, when Montenegro received a great number of Kosovian refugees and was a shelter in difficult moments for people of Kosovo, Mr Mustafić said.  
- Based on that heritage, we succeeded to build a mutual trust that has resulted in recognition of Kosovian independence and full resolution to strengthen our mutual relations in all fields. One of fundamental reasons of such reality is the fact that Montenegro has significant communities of minorities which are a good tie for the neighbouring countries. With regard to that, autochthones Albanian community in Montenegro has a special value and contribution, which is a natural tie that connects our country with Kosovo. Additionally, a natural tie between two countries are emigrants from Montenegro who live in Kosovo, and represents a significant community, layered in its identities, but completely grounded in the contemporary Kosovian society, Vice President Mustafić emphasised. Furthermore, he stressed that an important step for the affirmation of the Montenegrin minority in Kosovo should be its recognition in the Kosovian Constitution, which would create conditions for exercising relevant rights and full participation in political processes and social life through legitimate political representatives.  

- Our past binds us to work better and more on building new cooperation paths in different fields – policy, economy, culture, science, education and sports. Only in that manner we may strengthen relations, overcome problems together, and help our Balkan neighbours, contributing to the overall stabilisation of the region. Thus, we will invest in our future which we see as a common benefit – mutual respect and common aim – the full commitment to regional connection and Euro-Atlantic integrations, Mr Mustafić concluded.
The event was ceremoniously opened by Speaker of the Parliament of the Republic of Kosovo Mr Kadri Veselji, and the following also spoke: Minister of Science, Education and Technology Mr Arsim Bajrami, Montenegrin writer Mr Jevrem Brković who won “Ali Podrimja“ literary award. During the visit to Kosovo, Vice President of the Parliament Mr Suljo Mustafic had a bilateral meeting with Deputy Speaker of the Kosovian Parliament Ms Duda Balje. At the meeting they referred to importance of parliamentary cooperation through establishment of friendship groups as well as cooperation of parliamentary working bodies through different fields.

They jointly stated that parliamentary cooperation was very important for deepening and improving the overall cooperation of Montenegro and Kosovo.