Montenegro

French presence

Consulate: duties carried out by the French Embassy in Albania (Tirana)
French community: about 160, with increasing numbers of tourists (French nationals passing through)

French Ambassador to Montenegro: Christian Thimonier (@ChThimonier)
Montenegrin Ambassador to France: Ivan Ivanišević (@i_ivanisevic)

Visits

On 21 April 2021, the Minister of State for European Affairs, Clément Beaune, met the Montenegrin Foreign Minister, Đorđe Radulović, in Paris. They signed the bilateral agreement on AFD action in Montenegro. The President of the Republic had a videoconference call with Prime Minister Zdravko Krivokapić on 10 May 2021. The Chief Negotiator for Montenegro’s Accession to the EU, Zorka Kordić, travelled to Paris from 15 to 19 June 2021. She was received at the private office of the Minister of State for European Affairs as well as by the Secretary-General for European Affairs. Montenegro’s Health Minister, Jelena Borovinić Bojović, also travelled to Paris on 7-10 June 2021. She was received at the Health Minister’s Private Office. The Montenegrin Finance Minister Aleksandar Damjanović travelled to Paris on 11-14 December 2022 and was received by the Minister Delegate for Foreign Trade and Economic Attractiveness, Mr Olivier Becht.

Prior to that, the Minister of Culture at the time, Franck Riester, received his Montenegrin counterpart on 25 March 2019. Furthermore, the Minister of State attached to the Minister for the Armed Forces, Geneviève Darrieussecq, made an official visit to Montenegro in October 2019.

Cultural, scientific and technical cooperation

As part of cooperation between the EU and Montenegro, France is using its expertise to support the reforms to be carried out, particularly in modernizing administrations, managing local government bodies, agriculture, supporting external trade, and protecting the environment.
In the area of academic cooperation, a convention on the creation of the Balkan Institute of Science and Innovation of the University Cote d’Azur (BISI) in partnership with the University of Montenegro was signed in Podgorica on 4 March 2019.

Other cooperation

Montenegro’s NATO membership offers new security and defence cooperation prospects. Montenegro is active in several EU external operations (EUTM Mali, EU NAVFOR Atalanta).

An agreement for AFD action in Montenegro was signed on 21 April 2021. The AFD took action as of 2021, in line with the EIB, for a concessional loan at the investment fund for the development of SMEs in Montenegro (€50 million).

Montenegro’s membership of the International Organisation of the Francophonie as an observer state in October 2010 following the XIIIth Francophonie Summit in Montreux (Switzerland) strengthened the prospects of the use of French within Montenegro diplomatic and government circles. A French school opened on 3 September 2018.