Serbian President Boris Tadic will open the first Serbian consulate in Montenegro in Herceg Novi on Friday.

The Serbian government officially asked the Montenegrin authorities to open three consulates in Herceg Novi, Niksic and Bijelo Polje, but only got permission to open one in Herceg Novi.

Montenegrin Prime Minister Milo Djukanovic has said on more than one occasion that there is no need for three Serbian consulates in Montenegro, which is small enough for the Serbian consulate to be reachable from any part of the country in just a few hours.

The Serbian Foreign Ministry explained earlier that it chose to situate the consulate in Herzeg Novi because all other offered locations were close to the Montenegrin capital Podgorica or the town of Prijepolje in southern Serbia, where Serbian citizens can already exercise their rights.

The media in Podgorica write that Belgrade will try to reach a compromise and open a second consulate in northern Montenegro, from where Serbian citizens now travel across the border.