Garcevic Attends Montenegro’s NATO Accession Ceremony

Amb. Vesko Garcevic, Professor of the Practice of Diplomacy and International Relations at the Frederick S.Pardee School of Global Studies at Boston University, was invited by the U.S. State Department to participate in the ceremony that officially made Montenegro the 29th member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization on June 5, 2017.

In accordance with Washington Treaty Article 10, Montenegro deposited its instrument of accession to Undersecretary for Political Affairs of State Thomas Shannon. The ceremony was attended by Montenegro’s Prime Minister Duško Marković, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, Montenegro’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Srdan Darmanovic and was hosted by Undersecretary Shannon.

Prime Minister Markovic said that membership brought Montenegro “permanent stability” and contributed to the stability of the Balkans and Europe as a whole, and NATO Secretary General Stoltenberg underlined that the Alliance would benefit from the country’s insight in the Western Balkans. Furthermore, he said it would send a strong signal that NATO’s door remained open.

“It was a great moment of history for my country and a moment of proud for me,” Garcevic said. “For several hours, I was taken back to the world of Diplomacy and NATO and had a chance to see some good colleagues from the State Department and mingle with members of DC diplomatic community.”

During his diplomatic career, Amb. Vesko Garcevic dealt with issues pertinent to European security and NATO for almost 14 years. In 2004, he was posted in Vienna to serve as Ambassador to Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe. He had been a Montenegro’s Ambassador to NATO from 2010 until 2014 and served as a Montenegro’s National Coordinator for NATO from 2015 until he joined the Pardee School faculty.