Ambassador Sanja Vlahović presented her credentials to the President of Malta Marie-Louise Coleiro Preca at the Palace, in Valletta.
During the ceremony, the President of Malta and Ambassador Vlahović discussed bilateral relations.
Ambassador Vlahović was elected as Member of Parliament in Montenegro in November 2016 and simultaneously as member of the Parliamentary Committees for European Integration, Science, Education and Culture, as well as of the Committee on Tourism, Agriculture and Sustainable Development.
During her parliamentary mandate, she was appointed as representative of Montenegro to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe in Strasbourg and a member of its Committee on Culture, Science, Education and Media.
She joined the Government of Montenegro in December 2010 and until November 2016 she held the position of Minister of Science. During her mandate, she was appointed Acting Minister of Education and Sport in 2016. During her appointment as Minister of Science, the first chapter in the negotiation process of Montenegro with EU—Chapter 25–Science and Research—was opened and provisionally closed.
This was followed by Montenegro’s accession to the HORIZON 2020, COST and EUREKA programs. As Minister of Science, she signed the bilateral agreement on scientific and technological cooperation between Montenegro and Malta in 2016, and with Italy in 2013. She has also signed bilateral agreements in the field of science and research between Montenegro and many other states, such as China, Austria, Slovenia, Hungary, Serbia, Croatia, Macedonia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Turkey.
Before joining Government of Montenegro, Ambassador Vlahović was professor and Dean of the Faculty of Tourism at the Mediterranean University of Montenegro, as well as lecturer at the University of Montenegro. She holds a PhD degree in management and leadership from the Faculty of Management and Organisational Studies in Belgrade, as well as an executive program degree in public leadership from Harvard Kennedy School, as well as in strategic planning in tourism through the ADRION program, University of Bologna, Italy. She has also attended different programs and specialisations at universities in Italy (University of Bologna), Ireland (Dublin), Canada (Toronto) and Cyprus (Nicosia), and was elected Distinguished Fellow of New Westminster College in British Columbia, Canada. She has also graduated from the Diplomatic Academy of Montenegro as one of its first candidates.
Ambassador Vlahović was honoured in 2015 by the President of the Republic with the distinction of Knight of the Order of the Star of the Republic of Italy, and was also acknowledged by the Rotary International with the Paul Harris Fellowship for her humanitarian work in 2010 and 2015. She was the first president and founder of the Rotary International Club in Bar, Montenegro, as well as member of District Committee 2483 for Rotary International Foundation and Youth.
Apart from diplomacy, politics, education and humanitarian work, her interests are culture and arts. In her younger years, she won a number of piano awards and played concerts in Italy and Germany. She wrote four books and more than 50 articles in national and international journals and publications.
Ambassador Vlahović was born on September 6th, 1973 in Bar, Montenegro and during her school and university days lived in Italy, Great Britain, Cyprus, Canada and Ireland.