Consulate-General of Montenegro
Consulate General of Montenegro to the United States 🇲🇪
Location: 801 2nd Ave #7, New York, NY 10017
The Montenegrin consulate general is located at 801 2nd Avenue in Turtle Bay on Manhattan’s West Side. The Art Deco-style building was built in 1932 and overlooks the UN Headquarters and the East River along 43rd street. There, we got the chance to interview Vice-Consul Maja Vasilijević. Montenegro is a small Mediterranean country of about 600,000 people. Elections in 2020 toppled the ruling DPS party which had been in power for 30 years. Currently, Montenegro is in a transitional period so the consulate, permanent mission (across the hall), and embassy in DC are all short of staff. There are two diplomatic staff at the consulate right now, Vice-Consul Vasilijević and Acting Consul General Amer Cikotić. Ms. Vasilijević joined the consulate last year, transferring from the Consulate to Switzerland in Bern.
Montenegro has maintained diplomatic relations in one way or another since the early 20th century. The first ambassador to the U.S was H.E. Ante Gvozdenović and the first Consul-General in New York was the American-born William F. Dix who served from 1918 to 1921. During the Yugoslav years, the ambassador and consulships to the United States would cycle between each of the 6 constituent republics, including Montenegro. The United States has always enjoyed good relations with Montenegro and Montenegro joined NATO in 2017. During the pandemic, the US provided Montenegro with donations and necessary materials like masks.
The Consulate-General in New York handles all consular affairs. As American citizens have 90-day visa-free access to Montenegro, the consulate mostly deals with diaspora affairs. For example, the consulate may reach out to someone with Montenegrin citizenship if they have an inheritance dispute in Montenegro but live in the United States.
The Montenegrin diaspora in New York is the largest group of Montenegrins outside of Yugoslavia. The community is especially large in Astoria. Montenegro is a multicultural, multireligious, civic nation consisting of Montenegrins, Serbs, Croats, Bosniaks, and Albanians among many others. As Ms. Vasilijević described, people might identify as Bosniak or Serbian but they could both hold Montenegrin passports. The diaspora community has a long history of reinvesting in Montenegro. An article from the Montenegrin-American Foundation describes the work of Vaso Čuković, a Montenegrin from Dever who provided scholarships to poor students in the Bay of Kotor area.
The Consulate also participates in promoting Montenegrin culture in New York City. It hosts events and dinners on important Montenegrin holidays like the country’s Independence and Statehood Day. The government and consulate in partnership with the Montenegrin-American Foundation has been attempting to found Montenegro House. Similar to Turkish House or Japan Society here in the city, Montenegro House would be built to house the Permanent Mission and Consulate-General as well as to act as a civic center for Montenegrin culture Sadly, these plans have since been stalled.
Looking towards the future Montenegro has a few foreign-policy plans. It wants to continue looking westwards and join the EU after having recently joined NATO. In addition, it wants to promote foreign investment in the country and boost tourism, its largest industry.
We would like to thank Ms. Vasilijević and the consulate staff for accommodating us and encourage you all to consider visiting Montenegro in the future!
