Aleksandar Andrija, born in Kotor in 1974, is the former Minister of European Affairs and the chief negotiator for the negotiations on Montenegro’s accession to the European Union, the national coordinator for pre-accession funds of the European Union’s support to Montenegro. He completed his master’s studies in international relations – European and Southeast European studies at the Faculty of Public Administration and Political Science at the National University of Greece in Athens. Before that, he finished primary and secondary school in Herceg-Novi, and the Faculty of English Language and Literature in Novi Sad. He is currently expecting the date of defending his doctoral dissertation at the Faculty of Political Sciences, University of Belgrade. He served as Ambassador – Head of the Mission of Montenegro to the EU, as well as the Permanent Representative – Ambassador of Montenegro to the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons in The Hague. During his tenure in Brussels, he participated in all of the most important events related to Montenegro’s EU accession, from submitting answers to the EC Questionnaire, through granting candidate status, to the decision to start negotiations. His work was reflected in the relations, communication and meetings Montenegro has with the European Commission, the European Parliament and the Council of the EU, as well as the representations of member states, but also countries in the region and other members of the diplomatic corps in Brussels. He used to be Director for the European affairs in the Ministry of foreign affairs of Montenegro for three years. In that position, he also intensively dealt with the cooperation between Montenegro and the EU, especially political relations and dialogue with the EU, but also the common foreign and security policy of the Union.