Montenegrin PM: Country Ready to Participate in Anti-Terror Coalition

VOA News 27 September 2006: Montenegrin Prime Minister Milo Djukanovic says his government is prepared to participate in the U.S.-led war on terror, but says details of any deployment to Afghanistan or Iraq have not been worked out. Mr. Djukanovic spoke Tuesday in the Montenegrin capital, Podgorica, after meeting with U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, the highest-ranking U.S. visitor since Montenegro declared independence from Serbia in June, had sought to determine how Montenegro might help U.S.-led military operations.

Mr. Djukanovic said Rumsfeld also repeated Washington's support for Montenegro's bid to join NATO's Partnership for Peace, a program that provides for cooperation with the alliance without granting partner countries security guarantees. The secretary then flew to Albania, where he will attend a meeting Wednesday of defense ministers from southeast European countries. He visits Slovenia later this week for a meeting of NATO defense ministers. Some information for this report was provided by AP and Reuters.