Montenegro on Wednesday became the 192nd member of the United Nations, a month after it ended its 88-year partnership with Serbia that completed the breakup of the former Yugoslavia.
UNITED NATIONS: Montenegro on Wednesday became the 192nd member of the United Nations, a month after it ended its 88-year partnership with Serbia that completed the breakup of the former Yugoslavia.
"I declare the Republic of Montenegro admitted to membership in the United Nations," UN General Assembly President Jan Eliasson announced after calling for approval by acclamation in the 191-nation body.
General Assembly members then broke into applause as the Balkan country's president, Filip Vujanovic, Foreign Minister Miodrag Vlahovic and UN envoy Nebojsa Kaludjerovic were escorted to their new seats, next to the Mongolian delegation.
"I am confident that Montenegro will strive for good neighborly relations and strong regional cooperation in the western Balkans, thus promoting stability in an area struck by conflict in the recent past," Eliasson said.
The resolution accepting Montenegro as a member was introduced by Austria's UN ambassador, Gerhard Pfanzelter, whose country currently heads the 25-member European Union.
Montenegro has about 650,000 people, compared to Serbia's population of 7.5 million, with a landscape of forested mountains and a sparkling Adriatic coast destined for a tourism boom.
It declared independence from Serbia on June 3, after a referendum passed by a slim margin on May 21.
The UN seat previously assigned to Serbia and Montenegro is now in Serbia's hands. The last country to join the United Nations was East Timor, in September 2002.
Montenegro is the last of former Yugoslavia's constituent republics to leave the orbit of Serbia, after Slovenia, Croatia, Macedonia and Bosnia split during the bloody Balkan wars of the 1990s.
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