President of the Parliament of Montenegro Mr Darko Pajović voiced his pleasure for being able to reciprocate the recently shown hospitality of his counterpart. President Pajović reiterated his expressions of gratitude to the Albanian parliament for the rapid process of ratification of the NATO Accession Protocol for Montenegro, and pointed out that Montenegro would know to appreciate and return the support of Albania in the process of accession to the North-Atlantic Alliance.

Speaker of the Parliament of the Republic of Albania Mr Ilir Meta voiced his pleasure over the visit to Montenegro, pointing out that he had not visited Montenegro in a couple of years but that privately he was often in our north and coastal regions, because he finds the Montenegrin hospitality agreeable.

The interlocutors noted that relations between Montenegro and Albania should serve as an example of good neighbourly relations relying on mutual respect, understanding, trust, support, and cooperation. It was pointed out that Montenegro and Albania were linked not only by joint history and culture but also by common strategic goals and values, and that because of that further intensifying and deepening of relations was of special significance, especially in the fields which would contribute to a better life of the citizens of the two countries, such as tourism, transport, and infrastructure, economy, energy, protection of the environment and sustainable development. The interlocutors pointed out the significance of cross-border cooperation, in order to improve the position of people living in that region. They especially emphasised the importance of protection and using of natural resources shared by Montenegro and Albania such as Prokletije mountains, the Cijevna Canyon, the Lake of Skadar, the Bojana River, and the Adriatic Sea.

More intensive cooperation between the two parliaments was agreed at the meeting, especially between the parliamentary committees in charge of monitoring the European integration process, but also the future work within the NATO Parliamentary Assembly.

At the special sitting of the Parliament of Montenegro, Speaker of the Parliament of the Republic of Albania Mr Ilir Meta addressed the MPs in the Albanian language and thus marked that the taking of hold of the not so new initiative of MPs of Albanian national parties to enable MPs of Albanian nationality to use their mother tongue in the Parliament. Precisely during his recent visit to Tirana, on the occasion of ratification of the NATO Accession Protocol for Montenegro, President of the Parliament of Montenegro Mr Darko Pajović announced to Speaker of the Parliament Mr Meta that he would personally endeavour to resolve the issue of this initiative as soon as possible.

During the day, the officials of the parliaments of Montenegro and Albania Mr Darko Pajović and Mr Ilir Meta respectively will together visit the Cijevna Canyon as one of joint natural resources of the two countries which needs to be preserved and valorised in line with the standards of sustainable development.

The delegation of the Albanian Speaker of the Parliament also included Ms Arta Dade, Chairperson of the Foreign Policy Committee, and Mr Paulin Sterkaj, Head of Parliamentary Friendship Group with Montenegro.