20 January 2019 - In the name of the stimulation of electricity production from renewable energy sources, privileged producers of electric energy were paid 13,27 million EUR last year, which is 8,75 million EUR more when compared to 2017, suggests the Montenegrin Electricity Market Operator. In 2017 privileged producers generated 244,62 million kWh, reports Pobjeda daily.

“Stimulation of electricity production from renewable resources started on 1 May 2014, and privileged producers have been paid 20,77 million EUR so far. Privileged producers generated 384,44 million KwH in this period,” said representatives of Montenegrin Electricity Market Operator.

According to the Montenegro Electricity Market Operator, “Krnovo Green Energy” company, in the ownership of Austrian “Ivicom Consulting” and French “Akuo Energy” got the most amount of money last year – 9,2 million EUR for the wind farm Krnovo. At the beginning of last year, “Masdar,” Abu Dhabi-based renewable energy company, bought a 49% stake in the Krnovo wind farm.

As far as small hydro power plants are concerned, “Hidroenergija Montenegro” from Berane, founded by Ranko Ubović, Aleksandar Mijajlović, and the “Hemera Capital” company, received 1,75 million EUR.

“Kronor” company from Podgorica got 1,2 million EUR, “Igma Energy” – 476.924 EUR, “Hydro Bistrica” – 421.598 EUR, “Synergy” company – 175.323 EUR, whereas “Nord Energy” company got 37.155 EUR.

As stated in the Energy Balance Decision for 2019, small hydropower plants, which are privileged electric energy producers, will produce 94,8 gigawatt-hours of electricity in 2019, which is ten percent more than the estimated achievement in 2018.

"Wind power plants in Krnovo in 2017, due to the late start of production, realized 48 percent of the planned. This year, the level of electric energy produced in Krnovo was brought to 93 percent," said the energy balance.

The decision also plans that the electricity production from the wind farm on Mozura, whose commercial performance should start next year, will be 111,8 gigawatt-hours.

20 January 2019 - Montenegro will have support from Great Britain in tightening tax discipline, through a joint project in the domain of the suppression of the grey economy. This was the main subject of the today’s meeting held between the Minister of Sustainable Development and Tourism, Pavle Radulović and the Ambassador of Great Britain, Alyson Camp.

They jointly stated that it was necessary to reinforce controls of the work of tourism employees and improve the function of local secretariats regarding that matter, all with the aim of increasing profit in the state budget and local budgets. The Minister pointed out that the Ministry was working hard on creating a database of the issuers of unregistered private accommodation.

“Even though the season was a record, illegal accommodation and lack of registration are our problems. Those who earn money this way must be aware that they are depriving future generations of the income they need for education, healthcare, etc,” said the Minister.

The cooperation between the two states is good. British tourists are visiting Montenegro more and more. Also, the collaboration with British tour operators and agencies is stable.

The Minister and the Ambassador talked about the pollution of the environment from plastic waste. The UK will assist in plastic waste management.

Camp showed interest in the organization of the future football match between Montenegro and Great Britain. She hopes for the friendly reception of British football lovers in Podgorica.

Director of Chamber of Commerce of Montenegro, Vlastimir Golubović, said that the most common barriers that businessmen point out are grey economy and unfair competition, non-liquidity or recovery of debts, numerous and high taxes, fees at the local level, high contributions on wages, high capital prices and difficult access to loans, barriers in legal regulation, problems of insufficient flexibility of labor market, lack of professional staff and frequent amendments of regulations.

20 January 2019 - Ambassador of China to Montenegro Liu Jin claims relations between China and Montenegro have never been better. Over the past few years, Jin said the cooperation between the two countries in the area of tourism, energy, and infrastructure, as well as in other sectors, has achieved significant progress, reports Pobjeda daily.

“Moračica bridge spanning structure is almost completed, Možura wind farm has entered the testing phase and soon will be functional, the number of Chinese tourists has been increasing over the years. These are all outcomes of cooperation between China and Montenegro that have contributed to traditional friendship and development of Montenegro. Our cooperation has been continuously progressing,” noted Ambassador Jin.

Despite numerous differences, such as history, culture, social system and economic structure, “both countries have been committed to further development of their economies and boosting the quality of life of their citizens”.

“China is ready to share knowledge with Montenegro, assist, cooperate with it and contribute to joint development based on mutual respect and benefit,” Jin concluded.

China has already been the second largest import partner of Montenegro, which best indicates the extent of cooperative relations between them, according to Ambassador Jin.

Back in October 2018, Prime Minister Duško Marković hosted the inaugural visit by Ambassador of the People's Republic of China Liu Jin. 

The Prime Minister welcomed the Chinese Ambassador, expressing the belief that the diversified cooperation with the People's Republic of China and the further development of the political and economic relations of the two countries, characterised by the high-level political dialogue, will be continued during his term of office. 

By this occasion Prime Minister Marković stressed that Montenegro especially respects the appreciation that the People's Republic of China expresses towards the strategic European and Euro-Atlantic orientation of Montenegro, and emphasised that the Government of Montenegro also share the attitude towards fostering and preserving multilateralism in the world. 

Prime Minister Marković and Ambassador Liu noted that cooperation between Montenegro and China in the field of our development projects, such as the construction of the first section of the motorway, but also in the area of science, education, and culture, provides a good perspective for the further high-quality partnership of mutual understanding and respect. 

The basketball players of Buducnost Voli achieved a great victory against Real Madrid in the European League.

Buducnost has entered five wins this season, and the fact that they defeated CSKA and Real Madrid in Moraca, two of the three main favorites, show that they deserve a place among the elite.

The wins over two such teams have also confirmed to the greatest skeptics (in modern language - haters) that our team has not accidentally wandered into such a society, and the ways the greats teams lost themselves in the grotto of Podgorica hall are completely different.

The result reveals everything, and the win over Real Madrid should be a pointer of how Buducnost Voli should play in the future.

In the 19 matches this season, Real Madrid once switched 100 points, in six matches they scored over 90 points, eight times that team scored 80 or more points.

Fenerbahce stopped them at only 63 points, and Buducnost would have lowered them to under 60 if Kampaco did not announce in the last attack that he could pull the ball up to the end of time and then he went to the hoop which made the princes move to 58.

So, this kind of attack machinery that has achieved the highest points in the European League this season, Buducnost has dropped to 60 points, which is 25 less than the Real's average!

The fact is that players of Real did not have their night in the attack, but nobody would ever doubt that at any point in Moraca they had an easy time throughout the game. They struggled to earn most of the points, there were moments when judges allowed and gave them free throws.

Buducnost Voli played phenomenally as a team last night, the defense was straightforward and only in that way miracles can be done.

Buducnost showed extreme aggression in the defense. They had ten steals, almost twice the average they had in the season (5.58).

Easy points were rarely allowed (25 fouls were made, and Real made 22 throws).

Real had a total of 18 lost balls and the team from Madrid has an average of 12 per one match!

All this allowed Buducnost to reach the triumph. There is a major difference in the match against CSKA. There was no need for a sensation of shots. The win has been earned with enormous combat, and they have come to it with only seven three-pointers and 43 percent of two points shots.

There has been a lot of talks about how the last season's trophy was won thanks to the energy brought by the domestic players. That was the key factor last night, also. Suad Šehović gave 100% for each ball, while Filip Barovic was fighting like a lion against Tavares. Since his arrival, at the same energy level is also Noriss Cole, as well as Goga Bitadze, and that atmosphere made everyone thelp as never before.

Earl Clark had a night even below the average when it comes to the offense. On the other hand, he compensated it with a great combat. Until the match with Real, he had eight steals, and last night he stole it from the rivals three times. He had two blocks, took over, helped, was not an observer in the defense, but one of the 12 players who crashed the champions of Europe.

They should not, and must not, fly too high after this triumph. Surely they will not, because Repeša is too experienced.

Yet what is clear, Buducnost is finally acting as a team, a compact entity that was the basis for the historic last season.

And the victory over Real must be a massive injection for self-confidence. 

Text by CdM, on January 19th, 2019, read more at CdM

The largest swimming for Epiphany (Bogojavljenje) in Montenegro was held in Podgorica, at the mouth of Ribnica in Moraca.

More than 200 people participated in the swimming for the Holy Cross.

Goran Čađenović was the first one to arrive at the cross, while the fastest one among the females was Slađana Ćuković.

Just as ten years ago, when the Epiphany swimming was held for the first time in this century in Bar, and Tomo Pekic was the first to arrive at the Holy Cross.

During rainy weather in front of hundreds of citizens of Bar on the town's beach, more than 60 believers swam for the Holy Cross, among whom the youngest participant Pavle was only three years old. This year more children participated in the Epiphany swimming, even the girls, the youngest of which was seven-year-old Petra.

“This is the second time that I swim for the holy cross. I was swimming ten years ago when I also arrived first. For ten years I did not swim for the Epiphany. I wanted to mark the decade when I was only 18 years old when I arrived first to the holy cross. I was honored that for the second time in my life I arrived first and thus marked this jubilee, "said Pekić, who is the assistant coach at the Women's Volleyball Club “Galeb”.

Draško Jelovac from Tivat was the first to reach the holy cross in the traditional Epiphany swimming at Miholjska Prevlaka. In the swim, there was the largest number of participants so far - over seventy, including dozens of girls, and the event brought together a large number of believers from Tivat and Boka Bay. This year, before the swim, they entered the sea with the chief priests of the Miholjska church.

Marko Mićović (19) from Banjani is the winner of Epiphany swimming, which was organized for the first time by the Church municipality Nikšić on the river Zeta, near Manitovac, while in Bar Tomo Pekić (28), the assistant coach at ŽOK Luka Bar was the first to arrive to the holy cross. This is the second time for Tomo to be the fastest swimmer at the Epiphany.

Nikola Radonić from Baosici was the first to reach the epiphany cross at the Skver in Herceg Novi. This year's contest included 48 swimmers, including three women swimming in the sea whose temperature was 11 degrees.

Though it was a rainy day with showers the sky was clear at the time of the swim.

Text by CdM, on January 19th, 2019, read more at CdM

The concert of the National Symphony was held at the Montenegrin National Theater (CNP), performed by the Chinese troupe Gansu. The concert is part of the China Culture Week, which began on Wednesday, and is organized by the Embassy of the Republic of China in Montenegro.

The Chinese artists gathered in Gansu's troupe, in front of the full CNP, and brought a rich Chinese music culture using musical notes. They performed the masterpiece "Silk Road" on traditional Chinese instruments for the Montenegrin audience, which has been accompanied by several encores.

During the whole concert, the audience followed the troupe's performance in rhythm and judging by the reactions, experienced the spirit of the specific traditional Chinese music in the right way.

Two Chinese artists who celebrated their birthday on the scene last night were greeted with thundering applause.

The leader of the Gansu troupe, Yang Jianren, said that 32 artists were presented to the Montenegrin audience last night, who were performing on major tours around the world.

"We've evoked the particularities of the Chinese culture with music and 'Silk Road'. There is no limit in music, hearts do not demand the same language and I believe that this is what the Montenegrin audience felt. Also, I believe that through art we will make a friendly bridge between our two countries," said the leader of the troupe.

China's Ambassador in Montenegro Liu Jin said that the Chinese Embassy wants to meet the Montenegrin people with the Chinese culture in anticipation of the grand holiday - Chinese New Year.

"Relationships between Montenegro and China are traditionally friendly. Culture is an important link that can further bring the two populations closer together. We want to say that relations between the states are most dependent on the relationship between citizens, and I hope that the two countries' interpersonal and cultural cooperation will be even better," said the ambassador.

Let’s recall, during the Chinese Culture Week, the cultural richness of the country will be presented through three thematic groups - The Week of Chinese Film, the Concert of the National Symphony and the Two-Day Presentation of Chinese Intangible Heritage.

Lovers of the Seventh Art in the cinema “Cineplex” in Delta City can watch the movie “Youth” today at 6 pm, while at the same time tomorrow there is the cult movie from 1993 "Good-bye, my concubine". On Sunday the romantic comedy "Love is not blind" will be screened, on Monday, the Chinese film that won four Oscars, "Silent Tiger, Hidden Dragon", and the Week of Chinese Film will be closed by the screening of the film, whose scenes were also filmed in Montenegro - "Golden Job".

The Chinese Culture Week will be closed by the two-day event of Chinese Intangible Heritage. In the central auditorium of the Delta City, during the 22nd and 23rd January, the traditions and heritage of the city of Quanzhou, the cultural center of Southeast Asia will be presented. Visitors will be able to get acquainted with the process of making many famous Chinese handicrafts, such as colorful figurines of rice, holiday lanterns made of paper ribbons, but also with ancient painting art, stone carving, incense burning and drinking of tea.Access to all events is free of charge.The Chinese Culture Week is organized in the forthcoming of the China's New Year, the most important traditional Chinese holiday, which this year begins on February 5^th, according to our calendar.

Text by CdM, on January 18th, 2019, read more at CdM

19 January 2019 - The Office for European Integration has published the European Union Common Position for Chapter 27 - Environment and Climate Change, which is the preliminary and most important document for planning the obligations that need to be fulfilled within this area in the coming period. 

Thus, the Government has confirmed the consistency of the principles of transparency in conducting the accession negotiations and the determination to, by providing access to information, encourage the efficiency and accountability of everyone in the process of EU accession. 

By the procedure defined by the European Commission, the Government of Montenegro sent a request for access, use and distribution of this Common Negotiating Position after the Intergovernmental Conference of 10 December 2018. The meeting of the Working Group on the Negotiating Chapter 27 - Environment and the Climate Change of 25 December 2018 concluded that the Common Negotiating Position, following the translation, will be delivered to all members of the Working Group. 

By the procedure and deadline, the European Commission approved on 15 January 2019 the access, use and distribution of the Common Negotiating Position, which until then, based on its request, was marked with the degree of secrecy "FOR INTERNAL USE". 

We remind that the drafting of the Common Negotiating Position preceded the adoption of the Negotiating Position on Chapter 27 at the Montenegrin Cabinet session on 8 February 2018, which, in accordance with the practice applied to all open chapters, based on the Law on Secrecy of Data, was marked with the degree of secrecy "FOR INTERNAL USE". 

Total Montenegro News reminds that on December 10th 2018 Montenegro officially opened negotiations in Chapter 27 - Environment and Climate Change at the Intergovernmental Conference in Brussels.

During this occasion, in his address to the representatives of the member states and the European Commission, Head of the Montenegrin delegation, Foreign Minister Srđan Darmanović, said that Montenegro had opened 32 chapters to date, of which three are closed. Darmanović added that the effort the country is putting in the alignment with the Acquis communautaire testifies to its continued and strong commitment to the European integration process. He believes that by opening the last negotiating chapter in the months ahead, Montenegro will once again confirm its leadership position, but also give a new impetus to the integration process, not only in the country but also in the countries of the region. The goal is to confirm the credibility of the European perspective of the Western Balkans. 

19 January 2019 - Consortium of the Czech Philibert and Villa Oliva offered 10 million EUR for the purchase of 56.4806% of the share capital of the Institute for Physical Medicine Rehabilitation and Rheumatology Dr Simo Milošević and an investment programme amounting to 27.944.380 EUR.

In line with the 2018 Privatisation Plan, the Tender Commission for Privatisation started activities on drafting and implementing the tender for the sale of the share capital of the Institute. During 2018, several letters were delivered about the intentions of potential investors for the privatisation of the Institute, three bidders were registered in the public tender (purchased the tender documentation and signed the Confidentiality Statement), but only the bid by the consortium of the Czech Philibert, which is part of the Cimex Group, and Villa Oliva was submitted within the set deadline.

The consortium's bid, the only one that had been submitted in the public tender, was opened earlier today at the session of the Tender Commission for Privatisation, which took place at the Ministry of Economy in the presence of the representatives of the bidder.

The Tender Commission will, in compliance with the legal procedure, examine the formal validity of the bid, after which, if it determines that the bid is formally correct, it will examine whether it meets the qualification requirements and the minimum requirements of the tender and, within 15 days from the opening date, it will examine the bid in terms of quality.

Upon the completion of the tender, the Commission will submit the report to the Privatisation and Capital Projects Council for adoption.

Public tender for purchase of 56.4806% of the share capital of the Institute Simo Milošević was announced on 16 October 2018.

18 January 2019 - The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development invested last year around 1,1 billion EUR in the countries of the Western Balkans, reads the report of this financial institution.

While presenting results and plans, they pointed out their commitment to the Western Balkans by investing in 67 projects last year. One year earlier, in 2017, the support was provided for 57 projects which required more than 700 million EUR.

“The Bank has set very ambitious objectives for 2019 as well since it is raising the level of support for the global development by 2030,” stated the representatives of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development.

Apart from infrastructure projects, they particularly point out that they continued investing in projects that were supposed to change the financial climate; even 36% of the resources were used for the so-called “green economy” whose objective is to contribute to the reduction of risk of the environmental impact. By the end of this year, they will have invested in the same type of project at least 40% of the total investments granted.

The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development is the largest financial investor in Montenegro and since 1991, has invested more than 530 million EUR in a variety of approximately 50 projects. The Montenegrin portfolio in this company was estimated at 350 million EUR in 2018.

"The sustainability of public finances is a significant concern and among the greatest risks facing the country. In the fight against ever-increasing fiscal pressures, a new Fiscal Strategy was adopted in June 2017, which contained a series of measures, including VAT and excise tax, official’s salary cuts, improvement of tax collection and the abolition of maternity allowances with three or more children, adopted by the Parliament a year earlier. The main goal of the Strategy is to achieve the primary budget surplus from 2019 and the overall budget surplus from 2020. This should set the public debt to a declining path, which has rapidly increased to more than 70 percent of GDP in the recent years," the Transition Report of European Bank for Reconstruction and Development for Montenegro stated.

18 January 2019 - The winter season is at its peak and favorable weather conditions have cheered up all those who intend to enjoy the tourism offer of central and northern Montenegro. The President of the Tourism Committee within the Chamber of Commerce of Montenegro, Dragan Ivančević, reminded of the fact the weather certainly affects the number of tourists over summer, but the winter season has been something completely different.

“The fact this winter in Montenegro is going to be snowy allows us to be optimistic and proud to say that we are going to exceed expectations when it comes to the outcomes of this year’s winter season. But, if we want to seriously deal with winter tourism, we have to stop counting only on ‘God’s willingness’,” said Ivančević.

According to him, the greatest shortcomings of the tourism offer are lack of adequate accommodation capacities – high-end hotels with pools and wellness centers, infrastructure, qualified human resources etc.

However, good planning and promotion can open numerous possibilities for adequate development of mountain centers, he said.

From December 2017 to March 2018, Montenegro recorded 115,311 arrivals, which was by 30% higher compared to the 2016-17 season. In addition, there were 255,729 overnight stays, which was by almost 17% higher compared to 2016-17.

These figures, Ivančević added, have been quite impressive. According to him, all investments of over several million euros in the infrastructure of winter centers are pretty much cost-effective.