OSCE Secretary General, in Montenegro, calls for more funds for ammunition destruction project, meets country’s leadership

PODGORICA, 1 November 2013 - OSCE Secretary General Lamberto Zannier today launched a bid for more international funding for an on-going project to clear Montenegro of surplus ammunition and toxic rocket fuel.

Speaking at a donor’s conference organized by the country’s Defence Ministry aimed at finding funding for the MONDEM demilitarization programme, organized jointly by the Montenegrin Government, OSCE and the United Nations Development Programme, Zannier reaffirmed the OSCE’s on-going commitment to the programme, calling it “one of the best examples of government and international co-operation to date”.

“This project has resulted in a safer environment for Montenegro’s citizens and the whole region.  It has helped eliminate a constant threat of explosion from unstable ammunition stores, and from poisoning by toxic materials that leaked into the ground and the water.”

He stressed that funding was now needed to complete the project: “There is still over a thousand tonnes of unstable and obsolete ammunition that must be destroyed by the end of 2014, and the infrastructure of Montenegro’s largest military ammunition depot, must be upgraded,” he said.

Established in 2006, the MONDEM project led the destruction of 3,300 tonnes of heavy weapons, 60 battle tanks, 900 artillery pieces and rocket launchers, and 120 tonnes of toxic hazardous mélange oxidizer and rocket fuel in its first year. Funding is provided by the Montenegrin Government, the UNDP, and the OSCE participating States of Belgium, Denmark, Hungary, Italy, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Norway, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain and Turkey.

Zannier also held a series of meetings with the country’s leadership, including President Filip Vujanović, Prime Minister Milo Djukanović, Foreign Minister Igor Lukšić and Defence Minister Milica Pejanović-Djurišić. He commended the co-operation between the authorities and the OSCE Mission on the ground, the country's role in regional co-operation and pledged the continuation of OSCE's assistance to the authorities of Montenegro in consolidating their democratic reforms.