Japan–Montenegro relations


Japan–Montenegro relations refers to the bilateral relationship between Japan and Montenegro. Japan recognised Montenegro on 16 June 2006, stating then that "the policy of the Government of Japan to attach importance to the peace and stability of Western Balkans countries including Montenegro".

History

During the Russo-Japanese war, volunteers from Montenegro were encouraged to fight in the Russian Army in Manchuria. However, Montenegro was not mentioned in the 1905 peace treaty and a technical state of war was presumed to exist between the two countries. In 2006, Japan made the gesture of recognising Montenegrin independence following its secession from Serbia and declared then that hostilities were over.

Recent developments

Montenegro has an honorary consulate in Tokyo, but there is no resident Japanese representative in Montenegro. However, the country has been recipient of Japanese development aid, and in 2017 the Japanese ambassador to Serbia visited the Montenegrin Prime Minister.
Montenegro has significant trade relations with Japan. In 2017 it imported goods worth €68,880 from there and exported €60,493 worth. According to the Japanese Foreign Ministry, there was a very small community of 27 Japanese nationals in Montenegro in 2017.
In 2016, the country expelled 58 foreigners linked to the doomsday cult Aum Shinrikyo, which was behind the deadly nerve gas assault on the Tokyo subway in March 1995. A police statement said they had “received information from partner security services showing that a group of foreign nationals, who were numbers of a closed religious group, were staying in Montenegro.”