In just over two years of the current local authority in Herceg Novi, dozens of sections of local roads have been repaired and updated, mainly in residential areas surrounding the town.

Improvements to the pedestrian and traffic infrastructure are needed in every area, and the intention of the Herceg Novi Municipality to tackle each problem has been underpinned by a pledge to invest around a million euros in the development of infrastructure in Topla.

Topla will soon become a major construction site, confirms Deputy Mayor of Herceg Novi Miloš Konjević. Some of the projects to be implemented include:

• The section of road T5 from Voli to Ramarex, for which the project has been completed;
• For the section of road I4 from Mojdeški Bridge to Stanišića Dubrava, technical specifications, have been issued and work is ongoing on project development.
• Construction is underway on pavements on the section of Njegoševa Street from Mimoza Restaurant to Kukoljac Villa;
• Preliminary designs for the renovation of existing pavement on Mića Vavića Street (between the crossroads with Njegoševa Street and the car park for Topla I residential area) have been completed. Work on improvements to this particularly busy 140-meter section of the pedestrian walkway will cost 20k euros.
• Plans are underway to construct a road from Topla III to Modra Ploča, on the currently tarmacked section, with a projected cost of around 30k euros. This area has already had street lighting installed, on the section near the former Chinese restaurant;
• At the playground near Dašo Pavičić Primary School, final work remains concerning installing seating, lighting and storage spaces. This work is to cost 60k euros, and there are also plans within the local government to improve the playground at Topla II, which will cost around 5k euros.

M. Konjević

• Directly by the kindergarten and primary school, work on protective fencing has been completed.  Updating of existing, and construction of new fencing, will be carried out at Milašinović Bridge;
• Repairs are envisaged to the road around the school, as well as the construction of a retaining wall. The estimated cost of this work stands at 60k euros;
• Work on updating pedestrian infrastructure will follow on the section from the Novljanka Building to the Pet Danica Walkway;
• There are also plans to improve the Walkway from the Jazz Cafe Bar to Kantula Restaurant, which will be followed by the replacement of old kiosks with new street installations;

As Konjević points out, all the projects above are in line with local authority plans to improve public infrastructure in each area.

It is indeed a substantial amount of work, and each of the projects represents an important change to the appearance of the town. This is recognised by the local population who are providing their support and assistance in implementing the projects, concludes the Deputy Mayor of Herceg Novi.

The Regional Theater Union (RUTA), whose member is also the City Theater, was formed in Belgrade. In addition to the City Theater, the Union consists of five other theater companies from the territory of the former Yugoslavia: Belgrade Drama Theater, Drama Theater Skopje, Chamber Theater 55 from Sarajevo, Ljubljana City Theater and Ulysses Theater from Zagreb.

The formation of the Regional Theater Union was officially formalized in the Belgrade City Assembly, and this act was accompanied by a protocol on business cooperation between the mentioned theaters, signed by Artistic Director of the City Theater Dusan Kovacevic, Sofija Kunovska from Skopje Drama Theater, Vedran Fajkovic from Sarajevo Chamber Theater 55 , Barbara Hing Samobor from Ljubljana City Theater, Dusko Ljuština from the Ulysses Theater (Zagreb / Brioni) and Jug Radivojevic from the Drama Theater Belgrade.

The goals of the newly formed Theater Union are to institutionalize collaboration between these theaters, to allow the audience to see representative performances from the region, and to produce major co-productions. In this context, one of the initial steps will be the organization of the first RUTA festival, which will take place from December 1-6 at the Drama Theater in Belgrade.

"The collaboration will allow for fair competition, and at the same time make the ex-YU theater scene more quality, and thus the audience more satisfied," said the Artistic Director of City Theater Dusan Kovacevic.

Belgrade Theater Director and Union’s mastermind Jug Radivojevic said that since its inception, Belgrade Drama Theater has tended to be innovative and keep pace with the times. He added that RUTA is a good abbreviation because the theaters in the region have a common path, direction and journey.

"I would like to thank my colleagues, who quickly recognized the great idea. Creating a union is an event of great importance for the culture of the entire region," emphasized Radivojevic.

The representative of the Ulysses Theater Dusko Ljustina pointed out that he participated in the formation of the KPGT and the concept of cooperation of the three philharmonics "Pika, točka, tačka", with the assessment that the RUTA festival will surely be a theatrical holiday.

"But without journalists, we would not have reached anyone. If journalists were watching the theater as they were following politics, then those policies would be better," said Ljustina.

Chamber Theater Representative 55 Vedran Fajkovic noted that during the art festivals, Sarajevo awakens and becomes "the old Sarajevo that many remember, which welcomes guests with open arms." That is why, as he emphasized, this idea of collaboration is noble, because artists do not know the boundaries inside their minds.

Text by CdM on October 20th, 2019, read more at CdM

Growth in production and increased product placement were realized during the tourist season, which is a result of better connectivity between hoteliers and domestic food producers, the Chamber of Agriculture and Food Industry (PKCG) board announced.

Committee secretary Lidija Rmus, who presented information on economic trends, said that the increase in production and increased product placement in the tourist season was partly the result of the realization of the projects Buy Domestic and Domestic Tastes.

"The tourist offer increasingly includes the traditional gastronomic offer of Montenegro when presenting our country," Rmus said.

During the first eight months of this year, the purchase and sale of agricultural, forestry and fishery products amounted to EUR 23.4 million, and is at the same level as last year. By August, 16.1 million liters of milk were purchased, 3.4 percent less, but the production of all milk products increased, which has a positive effect on the financial results of this sector.

According to Monstat, PKCG said food production increased 4.6 percent in eight months and 8.9 percent in beverages.

During the session, it was assessed that the biggest problem faced by the agrarian was the lack of competitiveness of the product. That is why the goal of food producers is to increase the volume of production and the competitiveness of products, which can enable better placement of domestic products, and the business barriers they face in business need to be removed.

Speaking about the investments in agriculture that were completed in the current year, Rmus said that the company “Nase voce” (Our Fruits) has established an apple plantation on 15 hectares in Zupa - Niksic, and plans to build a five-hectare cherry plantation and new apple plantations on an area of 15 ha, as well as the construction of a juice production facility.

"This production will have a significant impact on the substitution of apple imports," Rmus added.

The processing plant with a capacity of about 60 thousand hams (prosciutto) is being built in the company Zrnozit, the construction of a new slaughterhouse in Mesopromet, and a meat processing plant is in the final stage.

She stated that it is significant that the water factory Bjelasica Rada started production again, and in Savnik, within the company, Eko-per Diva, started a new bottling plant. A new 600-ton cold-storage in Plantaze has been put into operation.

In the first eight months, imports of agri-food products amounted to EUR 391 million, with exports amounting to EUR 28.2 million, so the export-import ratio was 7.2 percent. Imports grew by 6.4 percent from the same period last year, and exports are down six percent.

Committee Chairman Milutin Djuranovic said that the drop in the coverage of imports by exports is worrying, because it is not insignificant, so in the coming period, we must work on strengthening the competitiveness even more.

Board member Amela Visnjic from Visnjic Commerce pointed to the problem of extremely high imports of eggs sold as domestic, which creates problems for business people.

Boris Covic from Bonesa advocated greater investment in technology because it is an expensive product and stressed the need to reduce and even eliminate protectionism in all industries.

Nikola Milosevic from Eko-per Diva believes that they need to be more active in selling domestic water in shops and hotels.

"We have to fight for at least 50 percent of the water in the shops to be domestic, which would increase our production by 20 percent," Milosevic said.

He added that 70 percent of imported water is now being sold in stores, and only 30 percent is domestic.

In order to eliminate the constraints that entrepreneurs face in business, it is necessary to work on the amendment of several normative acts that regulate their business. These are laws on companies, labor, excise duties, value-added tax, debt collection, and fiscalisation.

At the session, it was assessed that the implementation of the national campaign for the purchase of domestic products should be continued with the aim of raising consumer awareness and creating an environment for better positioning of Montenegrin products, which will directly contribute to the reduction of imports.

Also, when designing the Agrobudget, through the subsidies, the dairy sector, which faces very strong competition from the region, should be preserved and the quality control of imported products strengthened.

The session announced that IPARD funds are intended to strengthen the capacity of the agricultural sector, make it competitive and comply with EU rules, standards and practices.

General Director of the Directorate for Rural Development, Darko Konjevic, said that during the past year, two public tenders had been issued from IPARD for investments in agricultural holdings and processing capacities, which are underway.

“Through the first IPARD to support farms, by the end of July, 221 contracts worth EUR 13.5 million were signed. Twenty contracts worth 11.9 million were signed in the processing. The realization of investments in processing capacities will open about 80 new and provide security of placements for about seven thousand subcontractors," Konjevic reminded.

At the beginning of September of the current year, a second public invitation from IPARD for investments in processing capacities was launched.

“There is now a new € 15.6 million grant available to domestic processors to support investments to improve production. The sectors of processing of milk, meat, fruits and vegetables, olives, fish and aquaculture, as well as wine production, will be supported," Konjevic added.

The public invitation is open until November 4th. Konjevic announced that this deadline would be extended due to the interest of the businessmen and that at the end of this year, a second public invitation for investment in agriculture would be issued.

Konjevic also announced that another invitation for processing would be issued in the coming year.

Text by MINA Business on October 21st, 2019, read more at Vijesti

Cetinje is the recipient of the Globallocal Award, which is given to the best local communities to create a good environment for entrepreneurship development in Central and Southeastern Europe.

The capital of Cetinje has been informed that the award was presented to the Mayor Aleksander Kascelan at the World Entrepreneurs' Congress, which is being held in Skoplje for the second time.

Kascelan said it was a pleasure to be among the best, especially when prominent experts recognized efforts to develop the local community in the field of entrepreneurship development.

"The reward is coming at the right time. We expect the announcement of the advertisement for the lease of the real estate of the former Obod, an advertisement for tenants of the Business Center is in progress, we are contacted by numerous investors, and in the capital budget we have planned money for the purchase of land on which the famous Lokanda hotel was situated, whose redevelopment, in addition to new hotel and catering facilities, will generate new employment," said Kascelan.

In addition to the capital Cetinje, 14 cities from the region were awarded in this category.

The award was made by an independent International Committee on Globallocal Awards and Recognition, made up of 18 distinguished experts in economics, marketing, commerce, management, finance and entrepreneurship, from nine Central and Southeast European countries.

Text by MINA Business on October 18th, 2019, read more at Vijesti

October 22, 2019 - Each September, millions of volunteers from all over the world come together to clean up the beaches and coastlines of their respected countries - and with this event, highlight the dangers of waste in our environment.

This year, Montenegro took part in the event for the third year in a row. Organised by the NGO Zero Waste Montenegro (ZWMNE), the International Clean Up Day brought together thirteen NGOs, citizen groups, national and international institutions and organisations in eleven different locations, from Ulcinj and Tivat to Zabljak and Pljevlja. 

Just like the previous years, the volunteers and organisations conducted a Waste Audit to identify the types of waste frequently found in nature. What was special this year was the additional Brand Audit that was conducted for the first time in Montenegro to identify the biggest brands found in nature. This means that the collected waste was not only sorted by type of waste but also by type of brand. The results were written down in the Waste Audit Report. A total of 563 volunteers collected 926 garbage bags with a total weight of 5,941 kg of rubbish.

Due to the frequent usage of plastic material in Montenegro, it is not a surprise that more than half of the rubbish collected was plastic waste while the rest was metal, glass, organic, paper and other waste. Plastic takes up to hundreds of years to decompose and is never fully gone because it stays in the environment in the form of microplastics which makes it so harmful. 

The Brand Audit gave everyone a clear picture of which brands were the biggest polluters in all locations. When it comes to national brands the ones most often found were Suza, Niksic Brewery, Aqua Bianca, Diva Voda and Srna, while the international brands were dominated by Coca Cola, Knjaz Milos and Vlasinska Rosa. 

All plastic bottles from Niksic were taken to the recycling yard in Podgorica. Unfortunately, most cities in Montenegro lack access to good recycling infrastructure which results in a low recycling rate. For this to change, the government needs to make access to recycling infrastructure available to everyone and inform the citizens on how to separate their waste. However, it is important to keep in mind that recycling is only a small part in the big picture: we need to get people to refuse, reduce and reuse before they even get to a point where they need to recycle anything. Policies need to change, and information needs to be transmitted in a more effective way. Thanks to NGOs such as Zero Waste Montenegro and their promising and highly motivated members this switch might become reality soon.

For more information on Zero Waste Montenegro visit their website here. 

21 October 2019 - The most beautiful girls from more than 50 countries, including Montenegro, are competing tonight for the Miss Globe title in the southernmost city of Montenegro, Ulcinj.

The Miss Globe is an Annual International Beauty Pageant run and produced by Deliart Association & owned by the Canadian based The Miss Globe Beauty Pageant. It is a competition that has traditionally focused on judging and ranking the physical attributes of the contestants, as well as the women’s personality traits, intelligence, talent, and a contestant's ability to answer judges' questions on various subjects as judged criteria. The pageant is organised every year, and the International Final is open to the public and broadcasted by the national TV channels.

During their stay in Montenegro, representatives of the participating countries visited Podgorica, Tivat, Bar, Kotor and Cetinje, all with the aim of promoting Montenegro as a tourist destination.

In an interview for RTCG Portal, a representative of Montenegro, 21-year-old Martina Božinović told that the girls were most delighted with Tivat and Porto Montenegro, but also with Cetinje.

"I feel a kind of responsibility for the role of the host. For this reason, it was easier for me last year at the Miss Tourism World competition in China," Martina said with a smile, stating that she is not currently as focused on winning, as much as she aims to represent Montenegro in the best way possible.

Watch the Miss Globe pageant live at the Official Miss Globe Website.

The Fall Festival returns for a second year to celebrate the wonderful colors and flavors of autumn. The all-day festival will feature events celebrating the season, a local food market and pumpkin carving competition. 

Last year, this event had amazing success and looking at the weather, it seems it will be yet another amazing day this year. Between food stations, painting colony, folklore, and kids’ animation, there will be plenty on offer for everyone.

More on https://www.lusticabay.com

The Montenegrin team of young robot scientists will represent Montenegro for the third time this year at the competition in Dubai.

The theme of the world competition, which represents a real Olympics in high school robotics, is a global problem every year, and now ocean pollution is the focus.

The members of the Montenegrin team are Todor Capunovic from the Gymnasium “Petar I Petrovic Njegos” Danilovgrad, Aleksandar Boljevic from the Gymnasium of Podgorica and a student of the Mixed Secondary School “Mladost” from Tivat Komnen Kankaras.

The mentors are Nikola Bulatovic - teaching assistant at the Faculty of Electrical Engineering of the University of Montenegro, Dragan Todorovic who has been a competitor in previous years and this year transfers his experience as a mentor to the younger members of the team and Nina Drakulic, project coordinator and student of specialist studies in the field of telecommunications at the Faculty of Electrical Engineering UCG.

Drakulic told “Vijesti” that the Montenegrin robotics team had successfully represented our country in the high school world competitions FIRST Global Challenge for the past two years.

"We won 13^th place in Washington two years ago, among 161 countries which took part in the competition. Last year, in Mexico City, due to minor technical difficulties, we were ranked 72nd in the competition of 169 teams (countries). The competition is being held in Dubai this year with the theme 'Ocean Opportunities,' and we are already working hard to secure our participation and achieve a positive result for our country, as in the previous years," she said.

She explained that the theme of this year's competition is ocean pollution, to awaken awareness among young people and to come up with an idea of how to make a product one day through "playing games" that will help eliminate the damage caused by ocean, sea and land pollution.

"The goal of this competition is also to strengthen STEM technology, which has been very popular in recent years, and of what robotics itself is consisted of. STEM (science, technology, engineering, maths) technology combines four entities into one. These are science, technology, engineering and math. It is also about overcoming barriers between different cultures, sharing knowledge to reach a common goal," Drakulic said.

The goal of this competition is also to strengthen STEM technology (Photo: Nina Drakulic)

She said that almost every country in the world is participating in this important competition.

"In addition to a large number of participants, the importance and image of the competition are also indicated by the fact that Ivanka Tramp (daughter of US President Donald Trump) and the President of Mexico led the opening ceremony for the past two years. The opening ceremony, as well as the competition, were attended by numerous diplomats, ambassadors and prominent representatives of the countries. To represent our country in the best possible way, we contacted our ambassador to the United Arab Emirates, Dusanka Jeknic, who will be our guest at the competition, "Drakulic said.

Text by Ana Komatina on October 20th, 2019, read more at Vijesti

The cleanup in Kolasin saw the participation of the Utility company, the Protection Service, the Utility Police, members of the SFC “Tara and Moraca”, activists of non-governmental organizations, as well as a large number of elders and employees of the local government.

The Ministry of Agriculture launched an initiative to clean up and regulate the watercourses in cooperation with local governments and beneficiaries of the Small Grants Program, which is supported by the regional project "Management of River Drina Basin in the Western Balkans".

“The action originated from the need of Montenegrin citizens to preserve and clean the watercourses, in those locations where we noticed critical areas with deposited waste, which is the fault of malpractice individuals. The action is also a way of raising awareness. These activities will create the formation of coordination teams, which will be made by municipalities and state institutions, and will continue to deal with the conservation of the watercourse. We will also work to strengthen the criminal policy, through the legislative framework, to prevent further pollution and devastation of the rivers," said Momcilo Blagojevic, Director of the Directorate for Water Management at the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.

He announced that in addition to the realization of the project related to the River Drina Basin, the ministry would extend the action to all rivers of Montenegro.

According to Mayor Milosav Bulatovic, who was one of the participants in the action, the local government's effort is to do everything within its ability to preserve the rivers in Kolasin. He said that future activities would go in two directions, raising the overall responsibility of citizens through education and implementation of criminal policy towards those who have a malpractice relationship.

“We will give priority to prevention and education. We must participate in similar actions, but also to raise the awareness of our fellow citizens when it comes to nature conservation. We will continue to work with government institutions to achieve the best results towards this end. We plan to organize a cleanup of Tara’s tributary," he announced.

So far, the Ministry has organized similar actions, in cooperation with local governments, in Mojkovac, where landfills have been removed and the area adjacent to the River Rudnica arranged, the tributary of Tara and Bijelo Polje, where the river bed of Lim has been cleaned.

Text by Dragana Scepanovic on October 19th, 2019, read more at Vijesti