The meeting will take place on Wednesday in Montenegro.
Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenković will attend the Wednesday’s summit of the US-Adriatic Charter in Podgorica, the capital of Montenegro. On the sidelines of the summit, he will meet with US Vice President Mike Pence, the Prime Minister’s Office announced on Monday, reports N1 on 1 August 2017.
The hosts of the special meeting of the US-Adriatic Charter in Podgorica are Montenegro and Macedonia, which currently chairs the US-Adriatic Charter. In addition to the Vice President of the United States, the summit will be attended by leaders of Croatia, Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Macedonia, Montenegro, Kosovo, Slovenia and Serbia.
The leaders of the US-Adriatic Charter member states will discuss the Euro-Atlantic aspirations of the countries in the region, strengthening of reforms, and the joint contribution to regional and global stability.
On the margins of the summit, Prime Minister Andrej Plenković will meet with US Vice President Mike Pence and prime ministers of Montenegro and Albania, Duško Marković and Edi Rama, announced the Office of the Prime Minister.
While in Montenegro, Prime Minister Plenković will also meet with representatives of the Croatian community in the country.
“This will be the most important international conference ever held in Montenegro, given that the invitations to participate have been sent to leaders of Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Albania and Macedonia, which, together with Montenegro, are members of the US-Adriatic Charter. The invitations have also been sent to states which have the observer status – Serbia, Kosovo and Slovenia,” announced the Montenegrin government on Sunday.
The US-Adriatic Charter (A5) is an initiative that was founded in 2003 by Croatia, Albania, Macedonia and the United States with the goal of supporting aspiring states on their path to the NATO membership. The initiative was subsequently joined by Bosnia and Herzegovina and Montenegro.
US Vice President Pence began his latest diplomatic tour on Sunday. On Monday, he met with presidents of Estonia, Lithuania and Latvia in Tallinn. Before the summit in Podgorica, Pence will also visit Georgia.
US Vice President Mike Pence is the highest US official ever to visit Montenegro.
“Croatia is interested in the strengthened engagement of the United States in this region. Pence’s visit should be viewed as an expression of support to the Montenegrin leadership for their decision to enter NATO, and we believe that this is also an indication that America intends to help stabilize the situation in Bosnia and Herzegovina, as well as to strengthen the NATO’s role in the region further,” said a Croatian diplomatic source.
Although a month ago there were rumours that Croatia would be represented at the summit by President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović, it was decided that Plenković would meet with Pence instead. The President recently held a bilateral meeting with US President Donald Trump in Warsaw.
Translated from N1.
