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President of Montenegro Defends Agreement to Article 98


Monenegro's President Vujanovic defended his exchange of notes with the U.S. accepting Article 98 of the Rome Agreement

Washington, D.C., May 3, 2007 - In a live VOA TV interview, Montenegro's President Filip Vujanovic defended his exchange of notes with the United States accepting Article 98 of the Rome Agreement, which excludes U.S. citizens from extradition to the International Criminal Court.

Responding to critics of the exchange of notes between Montenegro and the United States during the live VOA Serbian program Open Studio, President Vujanovic said, "We have accepted what was already accepted by over 100 countries and by doing so we have expressed our trust in and respect for the U.S. judiciary."

Praising his talks with the Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, Vujanovic said that the Pentagon positively assessed the current military reforms in Montenegro. "This will enable our armed forces to reach standards necessary for NATO membership," said Vujanovic. He noted that he just got word before going on air "that U.S. funds have already been set aside for the training of Montenegrin officers," and stressed that this reaffirms excellent bilateral relations and the strategic partnership between the United States and Montenegro.

President Vujanovic is on a three-day official visit to Washington for meetings with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, Vice President Dick Cheney, and other Administration officials.

VOA's Serbian Service broadcasts its television program Open Studio daily as well as daily radio transmissions and web-based news at www.VOAnews.com/Serbian.

The Voice of America, which first went on the air in 1942, is a multimedia international broadcasting service funded by the U.S. government through the Broadcasting Board of Governors. VOA broadcasts more than 1,000 hours of news, information, educational, and cultural programming every week to an estimated worldwide audience of more than 115 million people. Programs are produced in 45 languages.

For more information, call the Office of Public Affairs at (202) 203-4959, or e-mail publicaffairs@voa.gov.

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