From The Hague to Washington

by Dragoslav Grujic, VREME Documentation Center

Montenegro expressed its wish to conduct an independent foreign policy from the first day of the new federation. After setting up the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, Serbia abolished its republican foreign ministry but Montenegro kept hers. In June 1994 when he was appointed FRY Ambassador to Italy, Miodrag Lekic (the Montenegrin foreign minister until then) said he "won't take the post if it means the Montenegrin foreign ministry will be abolished". The republic's constitution says it is "sovereign in issues not transferred to the competence of the FRY" and that "the government defines and conducts internal and foreign policy and concludes international agreements".

October 18, 1991: The Hague conference on Yugoslavia proposed an agreement for the overall resolution of the crisis in Yugoslavia which included the sovereignty and independence of the republics, international recognition of them and the possibility of those republics that want to join in a common state. Milosevic rejected that solution calling it an ultimatum while Bulatovic suggested that the proposal on the survival of the common state receive equal treatment with a proposal on abolishing it.

April 9, '92: US Ambassador Warren Zimmerman handed Bulatovic a letter from Warren Christopher offering Montenegro a special status and links with the US.

June 3, '92: Bulatovic was invited to Rio De Janeiro to the World Summit on Protecting the Planet which was attended by over 100 heads of state and government.

February 2, '93: After winning in the second round of the republican presidential elections, Bulatovic told the republican parliament that we shouldn't have allowed ourselves the luxury of opposing the entire world and not cooperating in negotiations with the great powers.

March 21, '93: Bulatovic energetically denied speculation that his visits to Paris, London and Rome meant Montenegro was splitting up with Yugoslav foreign policy.

September 5, '94: Owen and Stoltenberg negotiated with Bulatovic on a possible easing of sanctions in maritime traffic for Montenegro.

April 17, '95: Milo Djukanovic told Podgorica daily Pobjeda that he has "a bad opinion about the quality of the Yugoslav diplomatic service and am completely dissatisfied with the treatment of Montenegrin stands in defining foreign policy".

November 5, '95: Djukanovic and parliament speaker Svetozar Marovic visited the US at the invitation of American congressmen. Their talks covered unblocking Montenegrin assets and freeing the ships caught in US harbors when the sanctions were imposed. Djukanovic said the 10 day visit was aimed at "conveying the real truth about Montenegro to the Americans who get information from people who have spent years dabbling and painting a false image of the FRY and Montenegro in the world". Milosevic and Bulatovic were in the air base at Dayton signing the peace agreement.

October 21, '95: Djukanovic went on a two day visit to Great Britain "to promote cooperation between Montenegro and Great Britain".

February 16, '96: A Montenegro parliament delegation ended a visit to London which included talks on getting loans of up to 70 million USD.

April '96: The federal state's current diplomatic activities aimed mainly at the Far East are seen by Djukanovic as "learning geography at state expense". "The concentration of our foreign policy activities has to be turned towards Washington and Western Europe," he said and added that Montenegro has three foreign policy priorities: neighbors (Albania and Italy, the former Yugoslav republics), the EU - with the intention to become a full member and promoting communication with the US at a much higher level than today.