Montenegro’s Deputy Prime Minister Svetozar Marovic said that Serbia should be his country’s closest ally in the region.
Marovic also said that he expects Serbia propbably has the same feeling towards relations with Montenegro.
“The real interest of Montenegro is to have the best relations with Serbia and that Serbia and Montenegro need to seriously work on the development of mutual relations,” the daily quoted the minister as saying.
He added that friendship and closeness between the two countries must overcome personal vanity, misunderstandings and differences, which have always existed in their mutual relations.
He rebuffed allegations against the country’s Prime Minister Milo Djukanovic, that accuse him if being involved in cigarette smuggling, saying such allegations are an indication of the weakness of the Montenegrin authorities but to the country’s ‘weak’ opposition.
“All this is less important than the truth, and it is difficult to deceive the public,” Marovic pointed out.
Commenting on the impact of the canonically unrecognised Montenegrin Orthodox Church in overall relations in the Montenegrin society, Marovic said that freedom of religion is a basic right in every democratic society, but that the church in Montenegro must stand above the national and political divisions by reconciling all Orthodox Christians.