Montenegro and OSCE have strong working partnership, says Austria’s Deputy Foreign Minister Linhart

PODGORICA, 14 November 2017 – Austria’s Deputy Foreign Minister Michael Linhart,  representing the 2017 OSCE Chairmanship, visited Montenegro today, stressing the importance of close co-operation and strategic partnership between the country’s authorities and the OSCE Mission to Montenegro.

Among others, Linhart met the Foreign Minister of Montenegro Srdjan Darmanović, the Minister of European Affairs Aleksandar Andrija Pejović and the State Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Snezana Jankovic, with whom he reiterated the strong support of the OSCE to the reform efforts of the host country.

“The co-operation with Montenegro focuses on core OSCE activities in the areas of security and governance as well as democratization and the media. We encourage the authorities to make full use of the OSCE’s expertise in these areas,” said Linhart.

He also confirmed the OSCE’s commitment to providing targeted assistance and making use of the OSCE’s mandate and toolbox in all relevant fields.  

Linhart visited the OSCE Mission to Montenegro, where he conferred with Head of Mission Maryse Daviet and Mission staff. They discussed current priorities and upcoming activities. These include providing technical support to the State Election Commission (SEC), in implementing the 2016 ODIHR’s Election Observation Mission final report recommendations.

Head of Mission Maryse Daviet said that the Mission has worked in close collaboration with the Montenegrin government to develop programmes that are responsive to their specific needs. “The elections programme, is a good example of this approach. The Mission has deployed technical experts to work directly with the State Election Commission to enhance their institutional capacity and support the commission in developing and adopting procedures for the electronic transmission of election results.”

Daviet and Linhart also discussed the Mission’s work in media development and its continued support to government efforts to improve media laws. Deputy Minister Linhart added that media freedom is a priority of the Austrian Chairmanship, as highlighted at the 2017 Chairmanship Conference on “Freedom of the Media in the Western Balkans” which resulted in concrete recommendations for the consideration of participating States. He also encouraged the authorities to work with the Representative on Freedom of the Media and the Mission in meeting OSCE commitments in this area.

The OSCE Mission to Montenegro was established on 29 June 2006 and has the mandate to assist Montenegro with implementing OSCE principles and commitments and promoting the country’s co-operation on politico-military, economic and environmental, and human aspects of security and stability.