09 February 2019 - Montenegro and the Republic of Korea have common interests both at bilateral and global levels, Prime Minister Duško Marković and newly appointed Ambassador of the Republic of Korea Hyoung-chan Choe noted at today's meeting.

Both sides agreed that there are numerous opportunities and a mutual interest in boosting economic cooperation, in particular in the areas of tourism, energy, agriculture, IT and improvement of the overall infrastructure.

"The goals of this Government are strong growth of the economy, sustainable development and more and better-paid jobs," said Prime Minister Marković, stressing the importance of the arrival of Korean investors in Montenegro to invest not only capital but also knowledge and skills and create new value for Montenegro.

In the context of international cooperation, as well as in terms of preserving global peace and stability, PM MarkoviĆ reiterated that Montenegro, as a NATO member, can contribute more actively to these goals, adding that Montenegro understands and supports efforts to overcome challenges on the Korean peninsula.

"We appreciate the support for the Republic of Korea in maintaining peace and stability," Ambassador of the Republic of Korea highlighted, adding that bilateral relations between Montenegro and Korea are at a high level.

Prime Minister Duško Marković also recently met with business people of Montenegro and they noted that the excellent results of the Government's economic policy and the implemented reforms provided a quality basis for further business development, job creation and improvement of the quality of life of citizens.

Business people have said that the government has done a lot to improve the business environment, but that there are still specific challenges to be addressed. Prime Minister Marković and business people agreed that an intense fight against the gray economy is necessary for the areas of tourism, construction, trade and the labor market. Prime Minister Marković also talked with business people about the necessity of increasing salaries and improving the working conditions of private sector employees and how this can be achieved. 

09 February 2019 - The Office of the Prime Minister, in cooperation with the Ministry of Sustainable Development and Tourism, will provide the necessary support to developing planning documentation, which is the basis for the implementation of development projects in Northern Montenegro. This was concluded at a meeting with the representatives of the municipalities of the Northern Montenegro and the Directorate of Public Works, sponsored by the Office of the Prime Minister Duško Marković.

Putting the focus on timely adoption of planning documentation, as a condition for successful implementation of development policies, is a confirmation that the Government understands the needs of cities and local communities from the Northern Montenegro, the meeting highlighted.

There have never been more funds for the infrastructure development of the Northern Montenegro and the country as a whole. Therefore, it is necessary for municipalities to contribute to the realisation of the Government's development policies.

With our support, the municipalities facing the challenges of adopting plans will in the coming period incorporate planning documentation into a valid normative framework, the Office of the Prime Minister stressed.

The Office of the Prime Minister will directly monitor the process of harmonising the missing planning documentation together with the Ministry of Sustainable Development and Tourism. The lack of planning documentation should not be a restriction for the development of the North Montenegro, the meeting concluded.

The meeting was attended by presidents or representatives of the municipalities of Andrijevica, Berane, Bijelo Polje, Gusinje, Kolašin, Mojkovac, Petnjica, Plav, Plužine, Pljevlja, Rožaje, Šavnik and žabljak, as well as the Head of the Directorate of Public Works.

08 February 2019 - Minister of Science of Montenegro Sanja Damjanović paid an official visit to Brussels, where she met with Commissioner for Research, Innovation and Science Carlos Moedas.

Minister of Science Damjanović presented the current status of activities on the regional project "Establishment of the South East European International Institute for Sustainable Technologies – SEEIIST", pointing to preparatory activities for the start of the next phase of the project – the phase of the development of a detailed Design Study, which the European Commission - Directorate General for Research and Innovation (DG RTD) will support with 1 million EUR.

Minister Damjanović invited Commissioner Moedas to attend the Kick-off meeting marking the beginning of the Design Study phase, which will be held in Montenegro in mid-2019. Sanja Damjanović also presented the progress in the process of developing the Smart Specialisation Strategy, stressing Montenegro's full commitment to this important task, which is implemented with the support of the Directorate General of the Joint Research Center (JRC).

In the end, she pointed to the importance of the European Commission's Policy Support Facility (PSF), through which Montenegro is working to improve the national innovative ecosystem, with a special focus on innovative start-ups. 

Commissioner for Research, Innovation and Science Carlos Moedas thanked the Minister Damjanović for the detailed information on the progress of the preparatory phase of the SEEIIST project. He praised Montenegro's progress in the process of preparing the Smart Specialisation Strategy, noting in particular that Montenegro, in a very short time, managed to prepare a quality strategic document, thus gaining the conditions to become the first associated country to adopt this strategy.

Commissioner Carlos Moedas expressed satisfaction that Montenegro has made the best use of the Policy Support Facility instrument for the creation of a national framework for creating a better environment for innovative activities in the country.

08 February 2019 - The second phase of the reconstruction of the Nikša Bućin swimming pool in Kotor, for which the Government has allocated 3.5 million EUR, will begin on 18 February, and the swimming pool will be put into operation at the end of the year, said Minister of Sports and Youth Nikola Janović.

"Today, with particular pleasure, I can point out that the Government of Montenegro and the Ministry of Sport and Youth, in cooperation with the Directorate of Public Works, have created all the necessary conditions for the beginning of the reconstruction of one of the most important sports infrastructure projects in the field of capital investments. The problem of reconstructing the Nikša Bućin indoor swimming pool, which has existed since 2014, has been resolved today," Minister Nikola Janović explained.

He said that this is great news for his fellow citizens of Kotor, but also for water polo players, especially for junior water polo players and their parents.

"Kotor is a city of sport, but above all Kotor is the symbol of the biggest Montenegrin successes in water polo. Through investing in sports infrastructure and implementing this project, the Government shows that it wants to enable our youth, children and citizens to practice sports in a more adequate way," Minister Janović underlined.

Minister of Sport and Youth announced even more dynamic realisation of projects of infrastructure reconstruction and adaptation of sports fields and sports halls throughout Montenegro.

"We will now place a special focus on our less developed municipalities, namely Petnjica, Berane, Mojkovac, Bijelo Polje, Rožaje. The Government of Montenegro wants to invest in capital sports facilities, but also in capital projects in other areas, in order to create conditions for the improvement of the living standards in these municipalities," Minister of Sports and Youth Nikola Janović concluded.

09 February 2019 - Take a look at the programme within the Public institution Museums and Galleries of Budva during February. In addition to the permanent settings in the Museum of the City of Budva, the Memorial House "Red Commune" and the Memorial House "Reževići", there are three exhibitions available in February:

1. Documentary exhibition "First discovery of ancient necropolises" in the Modern Gallery "Jovo Ivanović";
2. Documentary exhibition "Ljubiša in Coastal newspapers" at Memorial House "Stefan Mitrov Ljubiša";
3. Documentary exhibition "Budva Region in the World War I (1914-1918)" at Memorial House "Red Commune".

The documentary exhibition "The First Discovery of the Ancient Necropolises in Budva" chronologically and thematically shapes details related to the accidental, but sensational discoveries of ancient necropolises that came to light at the end of the 1930s during the construction of the Avala Hotel. The exhibition was created with the cooperation of colleagues from the museums in Split, Zagreb, Belgrade, and Boston, where the material discovered in Budva is kept. PI Museums and galleries Budva organized this exhibition on the occasion of two important jubilees - 80 years since the discovery of ancient necropolises and 15 years since the founding of the Museum of Budva.

The authors of the exhibition are Lucije Đurašković, Jovo Đurović and Dušan Medin. The exhibition will be open until the end of February at the Modern Gallery "Jovo Ivanović" (Cara Dušana 19, Old Town Budva). The gallery invites all interested to come and learn more about the discovery of ancient necropolises in Budva, as well as about the ancient past of this city.

The documentary exhibition "Ljubiša in the Coastal newspapers" is an expression of the need to emphasize the excellence of Stefan Mitrović Ljubiša (1822-1878) and the role of the local community in protecting his character and works by recalling the existence of "Coastal newspapers" (Montenegrin: Primorske novine) and their significance for Budva. "Primorske novine" was a local paper and was published from 1972 to 2003. The authors of the exhibition are Marijana Martinović and Đorđije Bato Boljević. All interested visitors can views the exhibition at the Memorial House "Stefan Mitrov Ljubiša" (Cara Dušana 13, Old Town, Budva) by the middle of February.

The documentary exhibition "Budva Region in the First World War (1914-1918)" will be set up in the Memorial House "Red Commune" (Obala 111, Petrovac) during February 2019. The authors of the exhibition are Marko Janketić and Goran Bubanja.

09 February 2019 - D-moll Band will represent Montenegro at the 64th Eurovision Song Contest in Tel Aviv, after winning the TVCG selection programme Montevision. The six-member band D-mol entered and won the competition with a ballad in the English language named "Heaven".

On Saturday night, the expert jury and Montenegrin Eurovision fans up and down the country had the power to pick the next Montenegrin entrant for the annual competition.

The winner was decided by votes in the Montevision music show, hosted and broadcasted by the public service broadcaster of Montenegro, TVCG. "D-moll" band performed the song in the English language named "Heaven", which was evaluated by the expert jury with members from the country and abroad and the audience, and the ballad had the highest number of votes.

In addition to "D-moll", four Montenegrin performers - Andrea Demirović, Monika Knezović, Ivana Popović Martinović and Nina Petković also presented their songs in Montevision.

Radio and Television of Montenegro organized and broadcasted this great music show, and through cable operators, the Public Service enabled the transfer of Montevision in HD resolution on a special channel.

On February 9, for the first time in the region, during this music competition, TVCG organised a prize for voters, a travel ticket for two people to Tel Aviv, for five days with tickets for Eurosong competition! The winner of the prize, a man from Podgorica, was delighted to receive the reward. The guest of the evening was the regional star Hari Mata Hari, who was invited to perform during the Montevision.

Montevision was opened by the group "D-moll" with an emotional ballad in the English language called "Heaven". Andrea Demirović performed the second song called "Ja sam ti san". Monika Knezović performed third with the composition "Nepogrješivo", which speaks of the power of love. Ivana Popovic Martinović performed fourth with the song "Nevinost", which tells a tale of people whom Ivana considers heroes of today. Nina Petković was the last to present to the audience with the song "Uzmi ili ostavi", which, as Nina said, is more daring than last year, and it carries a strong message. The International Jury of Montevision was comprised of Azerbaijan, Slovenia, Hungary, Malta, Sweden and Ukraine. The president of the jury was Ruslana, winner of Eurosong 2004.

After being crowned victorious, D-moll performed their song Heaven again for the crowd. They will now head to the semi-finals of the Eurovision.

The 64th Eurovision Song Contest will be held in Tel Aviv, Israel from May 14-18. The Contest, organized by the EBU and Israeli public broadcaster KAN, will take place at Tel Aviv’s Expo Centre in May next year. As announced by EBU, a total of 42 countries will “Dare to Dream” (Eurovision 2019 slogan) as they head to Israel’s self-defined non-stop city in May next year, with the Semi-Finals taking place at Tel Aviv’s Expo Centre on the 14 and 16 of May, and the Grand Final on 18 May.

February 9, 2019 - The municipality of Tivat stays in favor of using Ponta Seljanovo beach as a public city beach and a well-appointed swimming area accessible to everyone, the Municipality announced. 

February 9, 2019 - Olive, Wine and Healthy Food Fair within the Great Bokelian Fiesta, part of the official program of the 50th Mimosa Festival, officially began in front of the House of Culture in Bijela. Guests had the opportunity to visit stalls with local products and handicrafts and enjoy a cultural and entertainment program.

February 9, 2019 - The traditional regatta of the Mimosa Cup gathered today the young competitors of all active Montenegrin sailing clubs for the 45th time. The race in the waters of the Herceg Novi Bay is a traditional sports event within the program of the Mimosa Festival.

February 9, 2019 - In 2019 Boka Navy will mark few significant jubilees for Kotor and Boka Bay, and realize a representative exhibition on the Navy in Montenegro and then in some European cities. In addition to planning foreign visits, the organization also focuses on selecting, processing and preparing about 800 documents from the history of the oldest maritime organization in the world, said in an interview for the daily newspaper Pobjeda the Boka Navy Admiral, Dr. Antun Sbutega. 

Boka Navy, Tivat, photo by Antonela Stjepcevic

 

Do you expect that in the event of Pope Francis' visit, his meeting with members of the Boka Navy would be an indispensable part of the protocol?