"The year 2006 will be remembered for the full restoration of the statehood of Montenegro after almost one century. It will also be remembered that this has been achieved through a democratic referendum of which all in Montenegro can be proud," the country's President Filip Vujanovic said in his New Year message on Sunday.
Vujanovic pledged to shift attention in the new year to efforts aimed at improving living standards.
The head of state added that the merit for the re-establishment of the independence went to the democratic majority in the country, and that also all the respects should be paid to the minority that responsibly accepted the decision of Montenegrins.
Parliament Speaker Ranko Krivokapic said that in 2006 Montenegrin citizens won the biggest democratic victory in the country's centuries-old history.
Milo Djukanovic, who was the prime minister while the country was striving to ensure its independence, said the current interests of the country were dynamic economic and democratic progress as well as the admission to the European Union.
On 21 May 2006, Montenegrins went to the polls to vote for their country's independence and 55.4 per cent of voters were in favour of severing ties with the union with Serbia. The turnout was 86.3 per cent which means that almost 220,000 constituents voted for the independence of the country that has a population of some 630,000.
On 3 June, the Montenegrin parliament officially declared the independence.
Later in June the European Union decided to develop further relations with Montenegro as an independent and sovereign state,
In the summer, this mountainous Adriatic republic became the 192nd member of the United Nations.