Remarks With Montenegrin Prime Minister Igor Luksic Before Their Meeting
Remarks
Hillary Rodham Clinton
Secretary of StateTreaty RoomWashington, DCOctober 11, 2011
SECRETARY CLINTON: Well, it’s a great honor for me to welcome the prime minister of Montenegro here to the State Department. I believe he’s had already a very busy but productive set of meetings here in Washington, including with the Vice President. And we are very pleased to see the progress that Montenegro is making on a range of issues. We are very pleased too that Montenegro is moving toward being a partner in the Euro-Atlantic community, and we are going to be continuing to support all of the reforms and the efforts that the prime minister and his government are undertaking.
PRIME MINISTER LUKSIC: Thank you very much. I think it’s great to be in Washington, it’s great to be in the United States. It is in a week in which we are expecting some positive news from Brussels, and it is actually an affirmation of Montenegro and Europe (inaudible), and we are very much looking forward to all the things that we have to do in the time to come in order to meet all challenges and respond to all challenges, as our ultimate priority is membership into the EU and membership to NATO, as we believe that Montenegro is a country that should share Western values.
And therefore, I’m grateful for the possibility to have to be here in Washington, and I’m also – I also remember a year and a half ago when I was (inaudible) my predecessor here as finance minister at that point, we were discussing the possibility of a visit to Montenegro. And we’re still waiting for you, and we are very glad at any point to host you in my country.
SECRETARY CLINTON: Thank you. Well, I’m looking forward to that at some point in the future. Thank you all very much.
QUESTION: Madam Secretary, the terror plot – do you have anything to say about the terror plot, Madam Secretary, that was announced today?
SECRETARY CLINTON: Well, I think that you saw the press conference that the attorney general and the director of the FBI and others gave announcing the disruption of this plot. It was a terrific achievement by our law enforcement and intelligence communities, and we will be consulting with our friends and partners around the world about how we can send a very strong message that this kind of action which violates international norms must be ended, and other areas where we can cooperate more closely in order to send a strong message to Iran and further isolate it from the international community will also be considered.
Thank you. Thank you all.
