Podgorica, (MINA) - Montenegro is strongly committed to completing accession negotiations by the end of this year, said Minister of European Affairs Maida Gorcevic during her visit to Slovakia.

According to the press release from the Ministry of European Affairs, Gorcevic met with State Secretary at the Slovak Ministry of Foreign Affairs Marek Estok, as well as with Chair of the European Affairs Committee of the Slovak National Assembly, Peter Kalivoda.

Gorcevic said that Montenegro is strongly committed to achieving the goal of completing accession negotiations by the end of this year and securing full membership by 2028.

She pointed out that Montenegro is working diligently to fulfill the remaining obligations within the agreed deadlines.

Estok said that Slovakia strongly supports the EU enlargement policy towards the Western Balkans countries and welcomes the progress Montenegro is making on that path.

“The Slovak Government’s position is that we strongly support Montenegro and we want to see it as the next EU member state. Slovakia can serve as a good example of how important and useful EU membership is and how much we have progressed and grown economically since then”, Estok said.

He added that Slovakia will reaffirm its support at the upcoming ministerial meeting of the “Friends of the Western Balkans” Group, which will be held in May in Bratislava.