Prime Minister Đukanović attends meeting of Council of Foreign Investors in Montenegro

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Podgorica, Montenegro (11 December 2013) -- Prime Minister Milo Đukanović participated earlier today in the regular meeting of the Foreign Investors Council in Montenegro.

The meeting put special emphasis on business environment in Montenegro and on how to further intensify and improve communication with leading representatives of the Montenegrin business community in order to advance investment environment.

The Prime Minister said the government has studied thoroughly the suggestions received from the Council, through the White Paper, concerning advancement of the business environment. The Government aims, he added, to continue advancing business environment through continuous daily communication with investors’ representatives.

“The Government is committed to the open ecopnomy, and we believe that, in addition to global approach, it is crucial to continue with this important concept,” PM Đukanović highlighted in his address.

One of the fundamental issues of the Montenegrin economy, in Prime Minister Đukanović’s words, is the foreign trade deficit.

“It is very important for Montenegro to have a stable currency. Use of the euro has done a lot to eliminate currency risks. However, a key challenge remains the issue of proper Montenegro transport connections with key centres,” he explained.

The Prime Minister said that the low tax policy was Montenegro’s key advantage in attracting foreign direct investment in the period from 2006-2008. However, the protracted economic crisis required the tax solutions to be corrected.

“I believe that starting with 2014 we might create conditions for the elimination of temporary levies and for the return to the operation regime which was more favourable to domestic and foreign investors,” Prime Minister Đukanović noted. 

The Montenegrin Budget has recorded about EUR 110 million more budget revenues in 2013 compared to last year, PM Đukanović said referring to the Governments achievements in 2013.   

“We are estimated to end this year with economic growth of 2.5%, although that is not enough. We also forecast that Montenegro will see economy growth between 3.5 and 3.8% in the period 2014-2016”, he emphasised.

Furthermore, several projects in tourism, energy and infrastructure will surely generate activities worth more than EUR 3 billion in the coming years, the prime minister noted.

He also announced that the agreement with Chinese companies on the construction of the Bar-Boljare highway could be signed on 25 February 2014.

“A few days ago I spoke with Chinese partners who are ranked first in the tender for the highway construction. They believe that commercial agreements, as well as loan arrangements with the Exim Bank, will be signed on 25 February 2014 ,” he explained.

“Now it's up to us to try to confirm that we are ready to follow such an ambitious agenda and enter the implementation phase of the project, which will generate high consumption and investment activity,” Prime Minister Đukanović said.

For full speech of Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Foreign Investors Council Ruediger Schulz at the meeting, please clik the video link above.