MONTENEGRO APPROVES SOFA TRANSLATION, REQUESTS MAY 1

UNCLAS PODGORICA 000123 SIPDIS SIPDIS STATE FOR EUR/SCE, PM/PPA, PM/RSAT, L/PM, L/T E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PREL MARR MW SUBJECT: MONTENEGRO APPROVES SOFA TRANSLATION, REQUESTS MAY 1 SIGNING REF: Podgorica 122; State 38296 ¶1. Post has received the final approved Montenegrin translation of the SOFA agreement, which accepts all the changes proposed by State Language Services. The text arrived under cover of a diplomatic note, which requests that the SOFA be signed during the upcoming visit of President Vujanovic to Washington, May 1. Excerpts from the diplomatic note follow. ¶2. Begin text of excerpt: Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Montenegro would like to take this opportunity to inform the Embassy of the United States of America in Podgorica that the Agreement has been adopted on a Government session held on April 19, 2007. The Government also concluded that the President of the Republic of Montenegro should sign the Agreement. Ministry of Foreign Affairs would therefore like to express the readiness of the Republic of Montenegro to sign the above Agreement with the Government of the United States, since all the necessary procedures have been fulfilled. The Ministry would highly appreciate if the US would provide conditions for the Agreement to be signed on the occasion of the visit of President of the Republic H.E. Mr. Filip Vujanovic to Washington, D.C., in the beginning of May this year. (Complimentary closing) End text. ¶3. If desired, Post can transmit a hard copy of the SOFA translation and diplomatic note to the Department via express delivery. Post notes, however, that such deliveries from Montenegro to Washington normally take three working days. BARNES