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India and Montenegro held the third round of Foreign Office Consultations (FOC) on Monday in Podgorica, the Ministry of External Affairs said in a statement.
The Indian side was led by Arun Kumar Sahu, Additional Secretary (Central Europe Division) and the Montenegrin side by acting Director General for Bilateral Affairs, Aleksandar Drljevic. During the FOC, both sides reviewed bilateral relations and shared views on regional and global issues of mutual interest. Bilateral discussion encompassed a range of issues including political ties, trade, S&T, cultural relations, and people-to-people contacts. Cooperation between the two countries in international and multilateral fora was also discussed, the statement added. Both sides agreed to hold the next session of the consultations in New Delhi on mutually convenient dates. Notably, India's relations with Montenegro have traditionally been close and friendly since the days of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (SFRY) of which it was a constituent republic. After Montenegro became independent, the first incoming ministerial visit was that of Minister of Finance, Dr Milorad Katnic, who visited India from February 8-15, 2011 to attend a Conference "India as a Global Power: practicing Liberal Values at Home and Abroad" organised by Mont Pelerin Society. He took the opportunity to meet Minister of State for Finance, Namo Narain Meena, as per MEA. Recently, External Affairs Minister Dr S Jaishankar had met the President of Montenegro, Milo Dukanovic, on the sidelines of the GLOBSEC 2022 Bratislava Forum in June 2022. Both leaders noted the friendly ties between the two countries and the close cooperation in the multilateral fora. They discussed ways to expand our relations across sectors, especially in the areas of investment, culture, tourism and renewable energy. Notably, the first round of FOC was held in Podgorica in July 2009. (ANI)
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