Collecting emblems, ornaments, badges, ranks, table flags, t-shirts, vehicle models, festive uniforms, helmets, and firefighter monographs is the decade-long hobby of Jasmin Tutundzic from Pljevlja.

A thirty-year-old, who works as a firefighter in the Protection Service of Pljevlja, has a rich collection of firefighting, military and police souvenirs, and adds new ones each day which he gets or exchanges with his colleagues around the world.

He says that he is one of the two firefighters in Montenegro who are trying to save the objects, equipment and many other things that testify to the work of firefighters around the world. There is a story that in his collection, there are more than 540 emblems, sixty medals, dozens of fire truck models, and 200 badges of various firefighting brigades from the former Yugoslavia.

"I started with this hobby by accident. I received the first souvenirs from Slovenia. They were sent from a colleague with whom I have been in contact through social networks. In the beginning, I did it for fun, and today the hobby has turned into a passion."

Tutundzic says that his love for the craft was inherited from his father, who also worked as a firefighter.

He spent time with his parents living in the building where the fire department was located, and daily socializing with the firefighters from Pljevlja largely determined his life path.

Various badges and medals

Before becoming a professional, Tutundzic worked as a volunteer in the Pljevlja Fire Department.

"All my life I was attached to the fire department. It seems to me that I would not be able to do any other job except being a firefighter. "

He intends to collect firefighting souvenirs from all the countries of the world, and many of them already adorn the walls of his room.

He owns the souvenirs from BiH, Serbia, Macedonia, France, Spain, Italy, Venezuela, Poland, Germany, the Netherlands. Hungary, Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, and the most numerous are from Croatia, Slovenia, and the United States.

"Emblems are usually worn on the chest or shoulder. Many services in the world have this. In Montenegro, only a few municipalities, including Pljevlja, have their emblems. Our firefighters, unlike many countries in the world and the environment, have no ranks or formal uniforms, which should be reinstated."

Tutundzic remarked that firefighters had solemn uniforms during the former Yugoslavia.

He keeps some of them in his rich collection, as well as the solemn uniforms of the Dutch and Turkish firefighters. "I would hardly give up my collections, given how much time and effort I have invested in collecting all this. Maybe one day, when I can no longer be involved in collecting fire brigades souvenirs, I will give my valuable collection to the Protection Service."

Jasmin says he traveled to France, Croatia, Slovenia, Germany, and Serbia thanks to his hobby, where he met colleagues with whom he cooperates. He points out that through social networks he is in touch with many colleagues around the world. Pljevlja is cherishing the firefighting tradition more than one century-long

Tutundzic says that the first fire brigade in Pljevlja was formed more than a hundred years ago, during the Austro-Hungarian rule, and that it functioned voluntarily.

"The society emerged out of necessity because the fire would often catch the wooden stores in Pljevlja, heated with manganese. Because of this, members of the first firefighting society were mostly the local craftsmen. The fire-fighting department worked with interruptions and was re-formed in 1933. The company had 73 members who were primarily craftsmen and workers up to 35 years of age. The Second World War interrupted the activity of this society, but it was revived immediately after the liberation, by the decision of the National Committee of Pljevlja region in 1946. At that time, there were 24 members.

In the absence of equipment, the firefighters extinguished fires practically with their bare hands, with ordinary water bins. More organized work began in 1948 when funds were provided for the procurement of necessary fire equipment, like motor pumps and hoses. The firefighting department then counted more than 100 members, mostly workers, said Tutundzic.

The first firefighting truck with a capacity of 1,500 liters of water was purchased in 1952, he said.

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Text by Goran Malidzan, on March 24th, 2019, read more at Vijesti

22 March 2019 - The Majorette club "Lili" from Herceg Novi will take part in a national championship in modern dances in Podgorica on Sunday, March 24th.

This championship includes several types of modern dance, and 35 members of the "Lili" club will compete in the category of majorette dance. They prepared seven choreographies and hope for good results, said the coach and choreographer Ljiljana Porobić.

"We compete with three formations - with our bees, cadets and joint juniors and seniors formation, as well as with one duo and three solo performances. We are ready, we have worked hard, and we hope that we win some medals. It remains to be seen whether our hard work and effort will be recognized and how well can we perform on stage. Before going to Podgorica, the Majorette club "Lili" will take part in the final segments of the Mimosa Festival program: "Thank you for 50" and the carnival parade," said the choreographer in an interview for Radio Herceg Novi.

"We have accepted the invitation to be on the Square of Nikola Đurković tomorrow, as well as on Saturday in the carnival parade. It's a bit tiring, we have a lot of work to do in only three days, but since we now have day-to-day training because of the competition, we are in good shape, and we will try to present ourselves in the best way possible," she explained.

In five years of existence, the Majorette club "Lili" has won numerous acknowledgments and awards, including eight European medals, and their favorite one is their very first medal."We have plenty of medals from state championships and international competitions, so many that we lost count. There are probably around 40 in different categories. The biggest prizes that are the most meaningful to us are eight European medals. Although we look forward to every prize, we always emphasize that our first European medal is somehow the most desirable," Porobić said.

After the national championship, the members of the Majorette club "Lili" will continue to train well for the European championship that will be held in late August in France.

23 March 2019 - The Government of Montenegro, together with domestic and international partners, is implementing numerous projects and activities for sustainable water resources management and provision of high-quality water supply, and to respond to the global challenges that are also present in Montenegro, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Milutin Simović said on World Water Day – 22 March. 

Opening the Conference on Water Day, DPM Simović said that the concern about water as a resource and the necessary condition of existence is a joint responsibility and obligation. "This is a good opportunity to recall global and local challenges while pointing to everything we do to ensure sufficient water resources and water protection," Simović said. 

World Water Day is an annual UN observance day that highlights the importance of freshwater. The day is used to advocate for the sustainable management of freshwater resources. Around one billion people still do not have access to safe and adequate drinking water resources, and three billion lack proper sanitary facilities. This year's theme of the World Water Day is "Leaving no one behind." 

DPM Simović recalled that Montenegro is rich in water resources and that, concerning its area, it is one of the wealthiest regions in the world. "95% of the river flows in Montenegro are formed on its territory. For the purpose of water supply, the groundwater is used in as much as 90% of the cases. On the other hand, Montenegro belongs to the Dinaric karst terrain, whose basic characteristic is the irregular dispersion of sources and depths to the level of groundwater, and as a result, we have an uneven distribution of water in the territory of Montenegro," Simović said. 

He pointed out that groundwater of karst terrains of Montenegro is a particularly vulnerable resource to pollution, and especially to climate change, and therefore great attention is paid to maintaining their natural functions. 

The floods that hit Montenegro in 2010, which had great material consequences and the repetition of the floods in 2012, 2014 and 2016, according to Simović, are seen as a consequence of the increasing impact of climate change. 

In February 2017, the implementation of a project supported from EU pre-accession funds “Strengthening the Capacities for Implementation of the Water Framework Directive" has begun in Montenegro. 

The Deputy Prime Minister reminded that in the past two years, the national budget provided over 2 million EUR for the implementation of over 100 water supply projects in 20 municipalities. 

In the field of flood protection, with the support of the GIZ, a Preliminary Flood Risk Assessment was prepared, as well as a hydraulic model of the Bojana River, which detected dangerous flood zones. "This data will help us to implement further a new regional project in the Drim River basin, prepared by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development with UNDP, with the financial support of the Adaptation Fund. We have just received confirmation that it was approved as the first regional project in Eastern Europe," Simović said. He said that the 1.2 million dollars from the project is planned for Montenegro and will be used to prepare the main project for the rehabilitation of embankments on Bojana River and infrastructure works for the construction of embankments on priority sections. 

Simović recalled that the Government of Montenegro gave a systematic response in coping with the consequences of several decades of degradation of river flows due to the uncontrolled exploitation of gravel and sand. 

"In April 2017, we introduced a moratorium on the exploitation of materials from river flows," DPM Simović stressed. 

With the support of the World Bank, the Ministry of Agriculture is implementing 500,000 EUR worth project to regulate rivers Grnčar and Lim. Another significant regional project will be implemented from April this year, in cooperation with UNDP and UNESCO. A project called DIKTAS SAP, worth a total of 5 million EUR, should contribute to greater integration of domestic experts and training of young people, as well as valorisation and better exploitation of the Dinaric karst groundwater. 

Deputy Permanent Representative of the UNDP in Montenegro Miodrag Dašić said that today's gathering is an ideal opportunity for dialogue to define solutions to challenges in the area of water protection and use. He emphasised that water management is essential in the regional and cross-border context, and that UNDP and the Ministry of Agriculture are implementing critical regional projects. 

A representative of GIZ for Montenegro Nenad Rakočević said that numerous projects aimed at water protection were implemented in the past seven years in Montenegro. He emphasises that GIZ remains a partner to the institutions in Montenegro in the field of water sector improvement, meeting EU requirements and strengthening cross-border cooperation.

22 March 2019 - We expect to have the first applications for Montenegrin Citizenship by the Investment Programme by the end of this year, while the Programme itself will be entirely in place in 2020, head of the Secretariat for Development Projects, Dejan Medojević, said in an interview with Dnevne Novine daily.

The Montenegro Citizenship by Investment Programme started on 1 January 2019, and it will be limited to 2,000 investors over three years. According to Medojević, there will not be a place either for those working with dirty money nor persons of interests to the security services in this Programme.

“On behalf of the Government of Montenegro, the Secretariat has launched the Citizenship Programme. Before this, the Government had defined requirements that an investor must comply with to get economic citizenship. This is not about the general sale of passports but rather an important development project for Montenegro,” said Medojević.

He reminded of the investment requirements, that is, 100,000 EUR donation in a Government Funds plus.

“The money will be allocated to the less-developed local self-government units and will be spent primarily on infrastructure and facilities which will bring some value to the north of the country,” pointed out Medojević.

On the selection procedure for the applicants Medojević explained that the special mediation agents would first check all of them, then the international credentials agents and then auditors who will be checking whether the money is paid as was planned. Finally, when the Secretariat says that they (investors) have met all the requirements, Prime Minister Duško Marković is to send his proposal to the Ministry of Internal Affairs to put whatever controls it can in place, but, of course, following the Law on Citizenship.

“So, the final controls are to be taken by the Ministry of Internal Affairs and National Security Agency,” concluded Mr Medojević, adding that they will do everything they can “to grant citizenship to most suitable applicants, willing to invest in the development of Montenegro.”

Source: Cafe del Montenegro

March 23, 2019 - The Institute is facing significant challenges, but the primary goal is not to change - to preserve and improve the essential activity - physical medicine and rehabilitation, said Dr. Gordana Rajovic, director of the "Dr. Simo Milošević" Institute at the Academy marking the 70th anniversary of the health-tourism centre in Herceg Novi. The event was held last night at the Congress Hall of this institution.

Tenants of six open-air disco clubs, fast food and shops announced that they would rejoin next Thursday when the government should declare upon their request that temporary buildings also remain for this summer at Budva promenade near the City Post.

Today they gathered again on the roundabout at the entrance to Budva, convinced that the Ministry of Sustainable Development would accept their request and submit it to the Government.

Although it was expected that such a decision should be found at today's session of the Government, because the Minister of Tourism Pavle Radulovic announced at the beginning of the week that he would submit the demands of the tenants to his collegium, about the fate of popular disco clubs and shops, however, there was no word today. "We gathered today, and we expected that the minister would make the final decision on his collegium yesterday, which the government was supposed to discuss today. As the Ministry of Tourism collegium did not consider our request, we expect it to be done next Thursday, when the government’s session is also scheduled. We hope for a positive decision, we hope that the competent authorities will have understanding for our requests, we hope that Minister Radulovic will fulfill our wishes and allow the objects to remain by the end of the summer, which would we, obliged by a contract, remove until October 31st," said the owner of a shop on the promenade Savo Radonjic.

Stressing that they will gather again next Thursday, the tenants once again reiterated that the season in Budva begins the next week, when organized groups of guests arrive, and that practically there is no time to execute the removal of objects and the arrangement of space. They reiterated that it was first necessary to approach the planned development of the project for the design of the promenade, and then make the decision to remove the objects. Three days ago, a meeting was held in Budva, in the premises of JP Morsko dobro, attended by Minister of Tourism Pavle Radulovic, Public Enterprise Director Predrag Jelusic, Mayor of Budva Marko Bato Carevic and lawyer Zoran Piperovic, a legal representative of the owners of six discotheques.

After the meeting, Radulovic said that definitely everyone remained with their opinion that such an offer is no longer appropriate at that location, but that until an alternative location to which the facilities would have been relocated was found, it was proposed to allow to the local shops to work this season, under the condition that they would need to remove them by October 31^st. Such a request was signed by Jelusic and Piperovic, and the collegium should declare their decision today.

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Text by Vuk Lajovic, on March 21st 2019, read more at Vijesti