ZAGREB, April 16, 2018 - Croatian President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović has congratulated Milo Đukanović on being elected President of Montenegro, pledging Croatia's support to Montenegro on its path to European Union membership, the President's Office said in a statement on Monday.
Grabar-Kitarović phoned Đukanović to congratulate him and wished him a lot of success in his work. Croatia is committed to supporting Montenegro's EU membership path based on individual merit and is willing to continue sharing its own experience from the process with Montenegro, the statement said.
The two presidents expressed their readiness to further strengthen relations between Croatia and Montenegro and to resolve outstanding issues between the two countries bilaterally, in the spirit of good neighbourliness and mutual respect.
They noted the responsibility of the two countries as NATO members in ensuring stability, security and prosperity in the entire region of Southeast Europe. They also emphasised the importance of the Montenegrin minority in Croatia and the Croatian minority in Montenegro as a link between the two countries and the commitment to further improving the status of the two minorities, the statement said.
Đukanović, the pro-European candidate and leader of the ruling Democratic Party of Socialists, won 54.15 percent of votes in the first round of voting in the presidential election on Sunday. It will be a second presidential term in his career, having served six terms as prime minister.
