Montenegro were given the go ahead to join the GSSE family during a Delegates Meeting held at the Hilton Hotel, Nicosia, yesterday.
Delegates from the eight countries that created the Games of the Small States of Europe, met to discuss the application of the former Serbian republic to become the ninth nation in the group of countries with a population of less than a million.
This is the first enlargement to the GSSE since the Games were first held in 1985 in San Marino.
Maltese Olympic Committee president Lino Farrugia Sacco told journalists in Cyprus yesterday that Montenegro bid was unanimously approved by the delegates attending the meeting.
"Montenegro have been accepted as a new country in the GSSE," the MOC president said.
"They have been showing interest for the past three years now but it was only this year that they submitted an official application to join the group.
"All delegates were in favour of Montenegro's entry and we are pleased that they are now part of our family."
Montenegro are now expected to make their first showing in Liechtenstein, the host country for the 2011 Games.
Mr Justice Farrugia Sacco, however, was cautious on this aspect given that Liechtenstein have a limited number of sport venues and hospitality facilities.
"Montenegro's entry in GSSE has automatically increased the number of participants in the Games and the Liechtenstein organising committee has already made it clear that it was very difficult for them to cater for another country in 2011," he said.
"We still hope a solution can be found to this problem. Montenegro could send a token contingent to Vaduz in two years' time or else they will have to skip the next Games altogether and join us for Luxembourg 2013."
Another, notable item on the Delegates Meeting's agenda was a proposal by Malta to restrict the number of foreign athletes in the Games.
"We put the proposal in front of the International Bureau as we believe that all GSSE countries would benefit without foreign athletes," Mr Justice Farrugia Sacco said.
"Unfortunately, there were some who were not in favour of this and it looks like we have a tough fight on our hands to convince the others that we are right.
"It's likely that it will be discussed again in future meetings but it remains to be seen if our proposal is going to be accepted."
Also yesterday, the International Bureau approved the calendar of sport for Liechtenstein 2011.
These are athletics, cycling, judo, target shooting, squash, swimming, table-tennis, tennis, volleyball and beach volley.
Two notable absentees in the 2011 schedule will be clay shooting and sailing but squash, where Malta is traditionally strong, makes a return since Malta 2003.
Meanwhile, San Marino's Angelo Vinci was elected new general secretary of the International Bureau while Jean Pierre Chabeul, of Monaco, is the new head of the GSSE Technical Commission.