08 June 2019 - The first segment of the project Creative Visegrad - a multimedia image of V4+ cities and states was recently held in Budva, reports the local government of this city.

The Municipality of Budva, in cooperation with partners from the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Poland, is implementing the project entitled Creative Visegrad - a multimedia image of V4+ cities and states, which is approved within the framework of Visegrad + fund. As explained by the local government of the Czech city Valašské Meziříčí, this purpose of this project is to enhance the awareness about common identity among the V4 member states and Montenegro.

Thirty-two young people from the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Poland, Hungary and Montenegro were introduced to each other through intercultural exchange, and during the summer they will work hard on short films that will be screened at the Festival of Lights (Signal Festival) in Czech Republic in September. The workshop, which represents the first phase of the project, was held in Budva, June 3 - June 6, 2019.

The workshop was intended for young people who are interested in discovering a common cultural identity with Montenegro and Budva, together with their peers from the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Poland and Hunagry, and who are willing to create a short film about this subject.

The main challenge of the project is a lack of knowledge in younger generation both the V4 states and the Balkan states. This region has a generous diversity of culture identity, history and tradition. The project has a goal to make a new connection among youth and with creative way of presentation, to express differences to the large audience. The main challenge is to address accessibility and cooperation among nations. One of the main ideas is sharing the cultural diversity of all participants and creating proof that their homelands are open-minded and accessible. Since this region has a diverse cultural identity, history and tradition, the project aims to creatively create a new relationship among young people and present it to the general public.

This project also focuses on sharing knowledge in specific multimedia area – creating short movies, because each project partner has a different attitude and uses different techniques to create film content. This program’s aim is sharing of know-how in context in using short videos to express the participants’ cultural identity.

Within the project Creative Visegrad, another workshop and festival will be held in the town of Valašské Meziříčí, in the Czech Republic.

The Visegrad Group, Visegrad Four, or V4 is a cultural and political alliance of four Central European states – the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia that are members of the European Union (EU) and NATO – for the purposes of advancing military, cultural, economic and energy cooperation with one another along with furthering their integration in the EU.

Festival of Lights, where the short films created within the project will be shown, is one of the most visited events in Prague that attracts thousands of tourists and locals with its fantastic light shows. Signal Festival represents a traditional event with amazing live dynamic performances of light and sound.

07 June 2019 - Montenegrin ICT sector is becoming one of the key economic branches in the context of economic recovery, besides traditional industries such as tourism, energy sector and agriculture.

Innovative Montenegrin ICT companies and start-ups are gradually getting into the international markets with a promising forecast regarding income generation and job creation.

International recognition of this sector is becoming stronger. Five leading ICT companies, Amplitudo, The Badger, Uhura solutions, Marleq and Super Hub are going to take part at the Global Entrepreneurship Summit 2019. The USA and the Netherlands are official organizers of the event which annually attracts over 2.000 representatives of business communities from more than 120 states. The event is taking place in the Hague, from 3 June to 5 June.

Montenegrin ICT companies are going to be presented at a special media conference, organized by the State Department. The companies will have the opportunity to present their innovation programs to the key players in the ICT industry, entrepreneurs, specialized media and potential partners.

This event is part of the regular support US Embassy in Podgorica provides to national economic reforms and endeavors to assist innovative companies with overcoming economic barriers.

The cluster-creation process is going to start soon. Clusters will consist of key innovative start-ups working on the promotion of digital services, software and hardware components and ICT solutions which are going to be competitive on the market.

Two big regional events, EDITA and PRODIGY, dedicated to digital transformation, are going to take place in September. They will bring top regional business experts, digital innovators and associations, in order to discuss cooperation in the area of digital innovation. This will be a great opportunity for Montenegrin start-ups as well.

Source: Cafe del Montenegro

07 June 2019 - President of Montenegro Milo Đukanović traveled to Bratislava recently, where he participated in prestigious security forum at the invitation of the GLOBSEC team.

At the end of the first day of the GLOBSEC Security Forum in Bratislava, President of Montenegro Milo Đukanović talked with the deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Miroslav Lajčak, the OSCE Chairman, at a working dinner hosted in his honor, as reported official website of President of Montenegro.

Lajčak thanked Đukanović for participating in this prestigious gathering, with the pleasure that Bratislava will be the hosting panel on the Western Balkans.

Among other things, Đukanović noted that this is another confirmation of the commitment of friendly Slovakia to the European perspective of Montenegro and the region as a whole, which is further expressed through its role as OSCE chairmanship in the year of the recent elections for the European Parliament and the changes that will follow at the top of the institutions in Brussels .

Interlocutors jointly expressed satisfaction with the results of the pro-European forces and emphasized that it would be extremely important both for the EU and for the region to extend the policy of enlargement to the Western Balkans on the agenda of the new European administration.

In a long conversation and friendly atmosphere, Đukanović and Lajčak exchanged views on developments in the region, with an emphasis on remaining open issues, as well as on processes in Europe and globally, with expressed willingness to promote otherwise excellent bilateral relations and cooperation.

GLOBSEC Bratislava Forum, organized in cooperation with the Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs of the Slovak Republic, traditionally gathers a large number of participants, political leaders and prominent thinkers, and with the World Economic Forum and the Munich Security Conference is one of the most important conferences on strategic issues in Europe.

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

06 June 2019 - Deputy Prime Minister for Economic Policy and Financial System Milutin Simović recently hosted UN Assistant Secretary-General Mirjana Spoljarić Eger. Following the bilateral meeting, DPM Simović and Ms Spoljarić Egger spoke at the opening of the "Green Days 2019 - Achieving Green Growth Potential" conference, sponsored by UNDP, the Government of Montenegro and the Chamber of Commerce.

As Government's of Montenegro report states, DPM Simović thanked Ms Spoljarić Egger for her arrival in Montenegro and accepting to take part in the "Green Days 2019" conference. He emphasised that her participation in this conference makes it respectable and significant, both in Montenegro and beyond.

The Deputy Prime Minister stressed that the Government of Montenegro understood the need to organise a conference on this topic, in the year when Montenegro in the negotiations with the EU opened Chapter 27 - Environment and Climate Change, and in the years in which the Government is determined to make significant advances in economic and overall social development.

Alongside this, Montenegro supports the global role of the United Nations and the values ​​of multilateralism, and shares the goals of sustainable development set out in the 2030 UN Agenda, Prime Minister Duško Marković said at the meeting with Assistant Secretary-General of the United Nations, Assistant Administrator of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and Director of the Regional Bureau for Europe and the Commonwealth of Independent States.

The Prime Minister of Montenegro and the UNDP Regional Director agreed that cooperation should give priority to the projects that are complementary to the process of Montenegro's accession to the EU and its strategic development priorities, in line with the 2030 UN Agenda for Sustainable Development.

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

06 June 2019 - President of Montenegro Milo Đukanović received the Minister of Defense of the Republic of Italy Elisabetta Trenta, who is on an official visit to Montenegro. Trenta recently met with Prime Minister of Montenegro, Duško Marković.

President Đukanović thanked the minister for visiting Montenegro, which represents a new and especially important impulse for further improvement of the interstate relations between Montenegro and Italy. The additional value of the visit is and, as the President said, that this visit happened at the same time when Montenegro celebrate an important jubilee of 140 years of establishing diplomatic relations marked last night in Cetinje in the building of the former Italian mission. Đukanović expressed great satisfaction with the quality of interstate cooperation and emphasized that Montenegro is very proud of the tradition of relations between Montenegro and Italy.

He emphasized the importance of Italy's support to the European and Euro-Atlantic perspectives of the region, which is particularly important in order to overcome the multi-year lag of the WB for a developed Europe.

"Aware of missed opportunities in recent history as well as internal crises in the EU, we continue to believe that the only prospect for this region is integration, and for Europe to continue unification and strengthen its global competitiveness," as noted in an official report by President of Montenegro Cabinet.

Stressing that Montenegro is a NATO and EU partner, the President paid special gratitude to Italy for supporting that country's membership of Montenegro to NATO. At the same time, he also pointed to the importance of the alliance within the Alliance, because Italy together with Greece preserves the airspace of Montenegro, as well as defense cooperation, which is reflected in support for training officers in the prestigious Italian schools.

In the context of exceptionally good bilateral relations, the President assessed that there is a significant area for improving economic cooperation on the basis of positive experience through submarine cable projects and underwater exploration of oil and gas.

"With the pleasure of opening a Confindustria branch in Montenegro, an even greater presence of Italian investors is extremely desirable, not only because of investing in Montenegro, but primarily because of the transfer of European standards, new technologies and management knowledge," Đukanović said

The Minister of Defense of the Republic of Italy conveyed to President Đukanović the greetings from President Mattarella and expressed her gratitude for showing respect to her country by attending the celebration of the Day of Italy in Cetinje.

"Friendship has existed for a long time, but it is always good to have a new friendship gesture," Trenta said.

Recalling Italy's support to Montenegro for joining NATO, the minister stressed that with the great impression that country remains with Montenegro on its way to the EU. Integration is also very important because of the need for a common response to contemporary challenges, Trenta said, stressing that Italy's position towards the Balkans is very clear, both in terms of supporting the integration of Western Balkan countries, as well as meeting the criteria for membership.

The interlocutors agreed that while meeting the requirements for EU membership, it is extremely important to take advantage of the momentum and further strengthen the partnership of NATO and EU countries, which rests on the strongest basis, the Euro-Atlantic system of values. Extending cooperation in the field of defense and intensifying economic ties will undoubtedly contribute to better cooperation within NATO, but also to help to transfer knowledge in which Italy wants to participate.

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

The Delta City's shopping mall management publicly protested yesterday because the Ministry of Economy has refused to exempt the shopping malls from the Law on non-working Sundays, which is contained in the draft law on domestic trade. This company did not directly answer whether they would submit an initiative to the Constitutional Court following the example of the trade centers in Croatia if such a proposal is to be finally adopted.

"The proposed amendments to the law already cause justified disapproval and dissatisfaction with many entities. Shopping Mall Delta City is a member of the Employers' Union of Montenegro and we believe that it is the right way to justifiably seek to exercise our rights through this organization," said the company.

Commercial centers in Croatia have been able to overcome laws that limit their work on Sundays with the decision from their Constitutional Court, in two cases in 2003 and 2009. In both cases, the prohibition of work lasted only a few months. The Constitutional Court of Croatia has explained the termination of the law by granting a guaranteed right to the equal position of entrepreneurs and freedom of business.

"On the weekend, the first Montenegrin shopping mall is visited by 18,000 to 24,000 people. The industry's estimate is that Sunday as a non-working day, in this case, causes loss of a minimum of EUR one million in the monthly turnover of our tenants. The financial loss of the leaseholder entails the reduction of salary and the release of labor. It is estimated that around 20% of the workforce in the center will be left without a job," they added, stating that the state would, therefore, have lower incomes.

They say that in all the countries of the region and in most European countries, shopping malls are working on Sundays. They pointed out the examples of Hungary, for example, where a similar prohibition was abolished only after a few months due to the drastic drop in the turnover.

Text by Goran Kapor, on June 6th 2019, read more at Vijesti

The Day of Environmental Protection was marked today in Zabljak with the great action of arranging the town and surroundings which was attended by 200 pupils and teachers of elementary and high school, employees in the local government, utility company, local TO, Forestry Directorate, "Zabljak Tourist Association", Nordic Skiing Club, Firefighters and citizens of Zabljak. 

"It was enough work, but thanks to the extensive actions outlined in the previous two years within this action, significantly smaller." The collected waste was packed in bags and transported to the city landfill. The machinery operated if necessary," said the action coordinator Nikola Dubljevic.

He adds that the participants of the action were divided into groups and, following the plan, acted in certain areas. The "Zabljak Tourist Association", which dominated through civic activism to defend the Black Lake environment from the planned investments, spontaneously acted in that area.

One worked from the center of the town to the sports hall, clearing the forest area on that route, and another from the center towards the Black Lake. Touristic paths were cleaned, grass mowed, low bushes and branches cut. Rotted and dried trees, as well as several smaller wild landfills, were removed," said Dubljevic, appealing to citizens and tourists to take care of the environment and not allow this tourist spot to be attributed a negative image with garbage dumps and other mess.

Text by Obrad Pjesivac, on June 7th, 2019, read more at Vijesti