"Brussels assesses that this is a very sensitive and complex issue, and that time is not ripe for its solution. Kosovo is a sort of dam in processes towards the final settlement and definition of relations in the western Balkans," the minister was quoted by the Podgorica-based 'Pobjeda' daily as saying in Tuesday's issue.
Vlahovic holds that "Serbia and Montenegro in a way depend on Kosovo".
As a result, there are resistance to and doubts in plans for the solution of the issue of Montenegro's statehood, he said adding that an erosion of the process towards the full statehood had been evident recently.
"Montenegro encounters many internal problems in the social and economic fields, and is exposed also to external and internal pressure because of a possibility of deciding on its own on its state and legal status," the minister told the paper.
He went on to say that Montenegro should be open to foreign investments and grab all chances for the economic, technical and other forms of support from Europe and the United States.