15 July 2019 - The owner of Uniprom KAP Veselin Pejović and Prime Minister Duško Marković put into operation a new silumin factory, noting that every new product in Montenegro is a step forward to a new workplace, and each new workplace strengthens and increases the quality of life for citizens.

"When we were visiting the entire complex in late March, we saw that a new modern industrial centre is practically developing here. Unfortunately, we had to keep in mind that the rise of the new Aluminium Plant (KAP) was followed by, I would say, a hysterical wish for this project to fail. But the new factory that will make products that can go directly to the halls of the automobile or avian giants, defies the skeptics and opponents of modern development. Every new product in Montenegro is a step towards a new workplace, and every new workplace is strength and an increase in quality on the path to the European quality of life of our citizens," the Prime Minister underlined.

The Prime Minister said that this investment and everything that has been done so far, including new development programmes, deserves respect and unquestionable institutional support.

"But for me, the resistance of Mr Pejović and his team to destruction, propaganda and defamation to withstand the rise of the KAP with domestic brains, energy and determination are equally important and worthy of respect. That is why we need more of these practices in order to quickly develop our economy, of course with the help of the Government's determination and planning," said Prime Minister Duško Marković at the opening the new silumin factory.

The project of the new factory for the production of aluminum alloys in the form of small ingots is worth more than 10 million EUR and involves the opening of dozens of new jobs.

The Prime Minister said that Montenegro should be encouraged by the fact that after decades of lagging, it changed the direction of the country’s industry and took the step forward with industrial production to the extent of the economy's needs.

"The modern way from natural resource to finalised product is long and it is not rational to cultivate ambition that it can be rounded up in national frameworks. Even much more powerful economy than ours cannot do it. But it is the duty of all of us, at least in certain areas such as the aluminium industry, to do as much as we can on our own. From today on, with a new factory within the Uniprom KAP, we can take a step further," Prime Minister Duško Marković concluded.

In April 2019, marking the start of construction works on the factory of aluminum billets/logs within the Uniprom KAP , Minister of Economy of Montenegro Dragica Sekulić said that continuation of aluminium production is of great importance for the overall economic development of Montenegro, and through announced investments "Uniprom" will continue to strengthen its position on the aluminium market, which will greatly contribute to strengthening the Montenegrin economy. Within the same timeframe, Veselin Pejović said that in addition to the already installed silumin factory, which will produce 30,000 tons of special alloys of an outstanding foreign market value of 75 million USD, the company is starting to implement the next project, which includes the construction of a new factory of aluminium billets/logs.

The dance seminar within the Festival of Dance Theatre has been organized by the Cultural Centre Tivat in cooperation with the local NGO ŠkArt and Bitef Dance Company from Belgrade. This one-week seminar is attended by 20 participants aged 10 to 30.

ŠkArt said that the seminar has more participants than last year when there were fifteen. The interest in this educational program was also great then, even though it was only a pilot project. Participants come from Montenegro – Podgorica, Danilovgrad, Bar, and Tivat, as well as from Serbia, with this year’s incredible opportunity to be taught by a classical ballet teacher like Leo Mujić. Mujić is a dance pedagogue and choreographer who had, before having great success as a choreographer with his dance performances, won the world dance scene as a ballet dancer. Contemporary class is conducted by Milica Pisić and hip-hop by Petar Miladinović.

Bojana Popadić, the president of NGO ŠkArt, says for TMN:

"The seminar, among others, attend 4 participants who were there last year and two of them have been sponsored by our association, which is a great pleasure for us because we were able to invest in the training of young talents. This shows us that it was a real thing to organize this type of education in our town because we need to support our talents. Kids usually don’t have options to travel in order to get good education and improvement, that is why we are bringing professionals here. It is a privilege to attend seminars leaded by Lea Mujić and Ašhen Ataljanc, who conducted classical ballet at the first seminar, and we are delighted that there is a lot of students from two countries. We also have three dancers from Bitef Dance Company attending the seminar. All the classes are being held on Tivat Summer Stage and each of them is preparing a 45 minute long programme for the Open Class, which will close the event.                                                                                                                                                                     This year the project is also supported by the municipality of Tivat through their yearly distribution contest for non-governmental organizations."                                                                                                          ŠkArt was founded in January 2017 with the aim to create and promote culture and art, especially engaged art and alternative culture. It has a special interest in BUTO dance.

"I use this opportunity and invite all dance lovers to come and see our final show, besides the dance performances they are able to watch these days on the Summer Stage. Our Open Class will take place on 19 July at 19,00 and the audience can have a look and see what our worthy dancers have prepared during the seminar, " Bojana pointed out.

The seminar is being recorded from the air by drone in cooperation with the Drone Studio Tivat, which also recorded this gathering last year - International Dance Seminar Tivat 2018.

14 July 2019 - The manifestation Jazz Under the Full Moon became a tradition in Gornja Lastva, where for several years visitors enjoy the beauty of this music genre in the magical landscape of Vrmac.

This year's concert will be held on Tuesday, July 16th at 10 pm, when Šule Jovović Jazz Band and Vladimir Krnetić will perform. Krnetić plays trumpet in the RTS Big Band. The event organizer is Cultural Homeland Association Napredak Gornja Lastva, and entrance to the concert is free.

A free bus transportation service from Tivat to Gornja Lastva is prepared by the organisers, and the bus departs at 09.30 pm from the bus station located at the centre of Tivat.

“Come and enjoy the beauty of music in a magic landscape of Vrmac,” says the invitation by the organisers. The sponsor of the concert is Porto Montenegro.

Gornja Lastva is a small place with a Mediterranean charm, located in the Bay of Kotor on the Vrmac hill that separates the Tivat and Kotor parts of the bay. It is located 300 meters above sea level and is 3 kilometres away from the Adriatic main road. Gornja Lastva spreads over the sunny slope of Vrmac hill overlooking the Tivat bay and further, via the Luštica peninsula, the open sea.

The concert Jazz Under the Full Moon was held for the first time in 2014 as part of the Days of Landscape, a campaign within the project Heritage – Development Trigger in which Cultural Homeland Association Napredak Gornja Lastva was one of the partners. The Days of Landscape are a series of cultural and educational events that aim to promote the cultural landscapes, especially the landscape of the Vrmac hill, giving it the role of a stage in nature, and drawing attention to its natural, architectural, ecological and aesthetic values and the importance of their preservation.

Find more information about the manifestation at the Facebook page of the event.

14 July 2019 - According to the latest available data for 13 banks in the system, that is, data by the end of May 2019, key components of the Balance Sheet of Central Bank of Montenegro over the one-year period records growth: assets (8.51%), loans (8.95%), deposits (6.16%) and capital (11.42%), Governor of the Central Bank of Montenegro Radoje Žugić told in an interview with Dnevne Novine daily.

Governor Žugić indicated that the Central Bank has been implementing activities referring to further improvement of the capacities for carrying out supervision over banks, as well as the activities for an adequate implementation of the regulatory framework that is in its drafting phase. He also underlined he was extremely satisfied after the meeting held with the IMF (International Monetary Fund) delegation, as they assessed the CBM was doing well and moving in the right direction. Governor Žugić was especially glad to hear the IMF’s statement that “there were no adverse effects from the two non-systemic banks on broader banking sector”.

According to Žugić, apart from positive assessments when it comes to the economic growth of Montenegro and fiscal consolidation that the Government has been effectively implementing which significantly contributes to the improvement of Montenegro’s public finances, the representatives of IMF, during their previous mission, analysed the situation in the country’s financial system as well. The general opinion is that the CBM is trending in the right direction in terms of the activities on improving the structure, instruments and processes of the banking supervision and the prevention of money laundering. In addition, IMF representatives share the CBM opinion that it’s extremely important to implement the planned audit over the quality of total assets of the banking sector (AQR). “We jointly noted that AQR would contribute to the adequate collateral valuation process in the asset classification and the allocation of share for potential bank loan losses, which would make the overall banking sector even more stable and resistant to potential unforeseen losses,” said the Governor of the Central Bank of Montenegro.

“It is true that the CBM was in the focus of the public from the introduction of bankruptcy at IBM and Atlas Bank and that it has often been heard that these two events "have shaken" the stability of the banking system. To argue with such claims, with the ultimate goal of stabilizing the depositors and preserving the stability of the financial system, in the past months we have had very frequent communication with the public. We regularly published information on the status of the main banking indicators at the system level, which confirmed that there are no risks for depositors of other banks,” said Žugić, denying all claims that stability of the banking system of Montenegro is jeopardised.

Read more about the business environment in Montenegro at TMN's dedicated page.

The volunteer Fire Brigades held an initial meeting on establishing the Association of Volunteer Firefighting Brigades of Boka. The initiative came from the Protection and Rescue Service Tivat, and DVV Tivat with the goal to improve cooperation and organization of the fire societies, as well as to preserve the environment of Boka Kotorska.

The meeting was attended by representatives of the Tivat Volunteer Fire Society (DVV), as well as DVD Krtoli and DVD Luštica, and the Service expects all Bokelian volunteer fire brigades to join the association. Commander of the Protection and Rescue Service (SZS) Zoran Barbić was previously the commander of the Volunteer Fire Brigade Krtoli for ten years. He said for TMN that this initiative is not new:

“This is the idea that I have been thinking of for some time, because my experience with voluntary work has shown me that the Firefighting Association of Montenegro should have the combination of voluntary fire brigades, but from the entry into force of the Law of Protection and Rescue in 2007, the volunteer fire brigades have to lean on the work of Protection and Rescue Services. However, as Security and Rescue Services have even more complex work and the need for new tools and equipment, which is very expensive, it is difficult to finance all of it, because the needs of DVDs are very large. Given that Europe highly values volunteer work, and in addition, we are a state that protects the environment, I thought there was room for the creation of an association that would have over 100 volunteers and could apply for international means, in order to provide a significant part of the funding through them.

It is very good to have all these societies at the Boka level, which are also, besides the mentioned, in Perast, Bijela and one establishing these days in Sutorina, but they need someone to coordinate them, so that they would relate, highlight their problems and be able to train in order to respond to a lesser intervention, because according to the Law on Protection and Rescue we have no opportunity to engage them in more complex ones. All of them must complete the basic course of fire protection to be able to activate in all areas of potential fire and they also need a lot of equipment, which is very expensive. Just one set of equipment for one firefighter costs about 2500 euros. None of the local municipalities can afford such means. We must have an insight into their capacities each moment, so the coordination should be at the highest level and the final aim is to bring the fire safety to a higher level. Apart from that, it is also the protection of the environment, our coastline and all the rest. We also need to engage more young people in this kind of work, because the brigades must be renewed and we must also highlight preventive activities.”

Commander of the Volunteer Fire Brigade DVD Krtoli Milan Vukošić thinks that the Association is a very good idea, especially because of the opportunity to apply for funds for IPA projects and getting the means for the needed equipment and training: "Anyway, we definitely need to be organized better. The more of us there are, the better we'll be. DVD Krtoli will definitely join the association."                                                            Commander of DVD Luštica Nikola Trojanović told us that the Brigade Management Board is going to decide whether to join the Association or not. 

DVV Tivat commander, Dragan Franović said that he is glad that the representatives of DVD Luštica and DVD Krtoli came to the meeting.

“All the volunteer fire brigades are more than welcome to join the association, which would be a very good thing for Boka as a whole,“ he concluded.

13 July 2019 - President of Montenegro Milo Đukanović, at the invitation of Ahmet Erentok, President of the Board of Directors of Azmont Investments, visited the works at the Portonovi resort in Herceg Novi.

On this occasion, the preliminary works of the first phase of the construction, contents and activities, which will be available to the local and international public from 1st of August this year, were shown for the first time.

When Azmont Investments entered the Montenegrin market in 2012, its contractual obligation was to invest 52 million EUR in the first four years, or 258 million EUR in eight years. By the end of June this year, Portonovi’s investor invested 469 million EUR, while the total investment after all works would be close to 1 billion EUR, the company stated. In all segments of the project, an average of 1,560 workers are now engaged.

Đukanović said that he is impressed with what he saw in Portonovi, adding that the implementation of the project from the first day to the present seemed almost unbelievable. A lot of works have been completed already and everything was done according to what were the most optimistic expectations.

"This is a serious chance to solve key economic and social problems in the country and a key opportunity for Montenegro's development, primarily in these activities that really represent the best development opportunity for our country," noted Đukanović according to the report of the Cabinet of the President of Montenegro.

The Resort spans over 26 acres and consists of 1.8 kilometers of an exclusive coastal area with 214 residences. World brands, such as the first One & Only hotel in Europe with the Espace Chenot Health Wellness Spa Center, and D-Marine with 238 berths and the ability to receive boats up to 120 meters long, are part of the Portonovi’s resort offer. Within the marina, a border crossing is also envisaged.

Portonovi settlement is designed in a traditional Mediterranean style with a combination of bohemian and Venetian architecture, concerning Montenegrin history, tradition and culture of life and construction. With its completion, the quality and standards of Montenegro's tourist offer will significantly increase.

"I am pleased to note that in the final I can see that through the realization of the resort such as Portonovi, Porto Montenegro, Lustica and many other venues that are in preparation, we realize the vision of Montenegro as a European prestigious tourist destination where many people from Europe and beyond Europe recognize something that is truly the most valuable quality of our space and our people," concluded Đukanović.

Read more about business in Montenegro at TMN's dedicated page.

13 July 2019 - The Communication Team of the Interdepartmental Commission of the Council for NATO launched a media campaign aimed at improving providing information to the public about all the aspects of Montenegro's membership in the North Atlantic Alliance, as Government of Montenegro reported.

A multi-month campaign has been created in line with the Communication Strategy - Montenegro NATO member for the period until 2020, adopted by the Government of Montenegro on 28 June last year and in partnership with NATO and the experts of the Government of the United Kingdom, with whom the Government Montenegro developed its first Communication Strategy.

During the campaign, the Communication Team will, in partnership with the interested media and NGOs, open up topics related to NATO membership that are of interest to the public.

A public opinion poll conducted prior to the development of the Communication Strategy Montenegro NATO member for the period until 2020, as well as research carried out during the preparation of the campaign, commissioned by two specialised agencies, showed that most citizens of Montenegro feel safe in their environment, and Montenegro in general.

Furthermore, more citizens of Montenegro today feel more secure than they felt before the country became a member of NATO.

Although citizens are divided in their opinion about the sense of security, a slightly higher proportion of the Montenegrin citizens believe that Montenegro is safer today than it was ten years ago.

The Montenegrin citizens who are against NATO say that the country "should be neutral". However, almost half of them (45%) cannot name any neutral state in Europe. They consider some of the countries neutral that are founders of NATO (Norway) or that are members (Slovenia).

Both advocates and opponents of Montenegro's membership in NATO share the view that the key aspect of membership is the security of the country.

According to the research, more citizens believe that Montenegro’s membership in NATO has contributed to regional security. The number of citizens of Montenegro who consider that Montenegro’s membership in NATO does not contribute to regional security has declined.

The concert of Aleksandar Tutunov, a prominent representative of the Russian pianist school who lives and works in the United States, will be organized tonight in the Park Hall at the 36th International Festival "Days of Music" in Herceg Novi. The repertoire includes works by Bach, Brahms, Beethoven, Glinka and Prokofiev. He is widely acknowledged as one of the most prominent virtues of the former Soviet Union and also the winner of national competitions of pianists in Belarus and Russia. He often performs in Europe, China, Mexico and the United States, performing solo, as a soloist with an orchestra, but also on radio and television, and is very much sought after as a judge at competitions. He graduated with honours at the Moscow Conservatory and at the University of North Texas and received a Ph.D. degree with honours at the State Conservatory of Belarus. He taught at the music universities of Minneapolis, North Texas and Illinois. As a successful pedagogue, he continues to prepare award-winning students for prestigious pianist competitions. Dr Tutunov is an Artist in Residence at the University of Alaska South East, artistic director of the International Institute of Piano at the University of South Oregon and director of the Chinese-American Institute of Piano International in Chengdu, China.

The international festival “Days of Music”, started on 10 July with the performance of the Amoroso Chamber Orchestra and lasts until 20 July. 

Days of music has been refreshed this year - three of the seven festival concerts are being held in various open areas, according to which Herceg Novi is recognizable, and also a top pianist repertoire is being performed on the new piano in the Park Hall.

Along with Aleksandar Tutunov, solo concerts will also be performed by the three artists of different generations - representatives of the Music Academy from Sarajevo on 18 July and by the artistic director of the manifestation Boris Kraljević, on 20 July. Both of the concerts will be performed in the Park Hall Herceg Novi at 9.30 p.m.

The concert of the Zagreb Quartet will be held on 17 July in the Garden of the City Museum "Mirko Komnenović" at the same time. It is the oldest Croatian chamber ensemble. They have played at more than 3,000 concerts on all continents and won numerous domestic and foreign awards, including the Vladimir Nazor Award for lifetime achievement in 2009. They recorded more than 60 albums.
This year the festival was supported by the Ministry of Culture of Montenegro while the General Sponsor is the Municipality of Herceg Novi.

In 2022, 20 percent or about 750 gigawatt-hours of electricity will be produced from small, wind and solar power plants, according to the long-term energy balance from 2020 to 2022.

According to this year's plan, all small hydropower plants will produce 109-gigawatt hours, while with the gradual growth, due to the commissioning of new ones, their total production in 2022 will be 255 gigawatts. The production of wind power plants will increase from the current 313 to 398 gigawatt-hours in 2022, the wind power plant Gvozd near Niksic is expected to be installed. The production of solar power plants will amount to 100 gigawatts in 2022. The inclusion of the solar power plant Briska Gora is expected at the end of 2020, in which it will produce 10 gigawatts, but will stabilize production to 100 gigawatts by 2021.

At the end of 2022, production will be 12.5 percent higher than in 2020. Increasing production from renewable sources means higher subsidies on electricity bills.

"This result is a consequence of a good investment climate that will result in the entry of new production capacities from renewable sources (RES)," the Government's document said.

Pljevlja Thermal Power Plant will produce 1.4 thousand gigawatt hours in 2022, or about 93 gigawatts more than this year. However, due to the increase in production from the RES, the percentage of production from TPP Pljevlja will fall from 40% in 2019 to 36% in 2022. Production from HPP Piva remains at the same 920 gigawatts, as well as from Perucica at 750 gigawatts. The total production from these two large hydropower plants will amount to 44 percent of the total production, which is two billion gigawatt-hours.

Forty-five-gigawatt hours per year will cost the shares of Podgorica-Kolasin highway in 2022, bringing this consumer to the second place just below KAP, and in front of “Zeljezara” which remains at 38 gigawatts. Total production in 2022 is planned at 3.8 thousand gigawatts, while overall consumption is estimated at 3.6 thousand gigawatt hours. The largest consumer next year will be Aluminum Combine - Uniprom, which will need 621 gigawatts a year. KAP in the recent years spent less than it was projected with energy balance, so in 2017, out of the planned 780 spent 586 gigawatts.

In the next three years, “Zeljezara Toscelik” will have a consumption of 38.4 gigawatts, which is slightly lower than in the past years. In 2017, “Zeljezara” consumed 40 gigawatts, in 2018 39, and this year it is predicted for 43 gigawatts.

The balance stated that these two companies submitted the plan of needs for the next three years to the Ministry of Economy.

The transmission losses grow because they are lost and below the sea.

Total network losses this year are expected to amount to 514-gigawatt hours, while in the following years their gradual decrease is expected and in 2022 it will amount to 443 gigawatts. Even these reduced losses will be twice as high from the production from all small hydropower plants.

The losses in the distributive network are reduced from 334 to 270 gigawatts, and in the transfer range from 180 to 173 gigawatts. As explained in the balance, transmission losses will increase this year from 140 to 180 gigawatts, and in 2020 to 194 gigawatts due to the commissioning of an undersea cable for Italy, as technical losses from this transmission will also be counted. From 2021, it is expected to reduce overall transmission losses.

Text by Goran Kapor, on July 11th, 2019, read more at Vijesti

In the traditional action of the Tourist Organization of Bar, by the decision of the jury, the most beautiful garden in Bar up to 500 square meters was awarded to Snezana Marljukic, who, besides a plaque, received 300 euros. Tatjana Matovic came in second and received 200 euros, and Zlata Orlandic in third received 100 euros. The winners of the same prizes for the garden over 500 m2 are successively Krsto Dabanovic, Tanja Jovovic, and Milo Djendjinovic. For the outside city areas, the laureates with the same awards are Zoran Lekic from Komarna, Almira Zudjelovic from Utjeha and Drazen Kaljevic from Virpazar.

In the category of individuals where there were 27 participants, the most beautiful staircase was awarded to Ljiljana Maksimovic, the most beautiful terrace in the urban area to Adlija Krcikovic and Miroslav Zivic, and the most beautiful terrace in the outskirts of the town to Hajrija Petovic from Kunja and Semija Rasketic from Mrkojevic. A special award was given to Aco Marcic for the most beautiful flower “bogumil”.

In the event, several companies were awarded such as hotels, apartments, restaurant.

The campaign "For an even more beautiful city" lasted from May 1st to June 15th, where gardens, buildings and the environment, the architectural elements of the garden, the diversity and the distribution of plants in the garden, and the quality of the maintenance were assessed. Citizens voted from the 22nd to 27th June through the TO Bar website - a total of 1,281 votes.

Text by Radomir Petric, on July 12th, 2019, read more at Vijesti