Centre for training of workers "Azmont Academy" opened today in Bijelo Polje

Bijelo Polje, Montenegro (4 March 2014) --"Azmont Academy", the centre for the training of workers, was officially opened today in Bijelo Polje, in the presence of representatives of the Montenegrin Government and the Azmont Investments, a Montenegrin subsidiary of Azerbaijan’s State Oil Company (SOCAR).

After finishing their training in carpenter, mason, plumbing and other construction specialisations, around 2 000 applicants will be given a chance to be part of the project “PORTONOVI”, the first European “One & Only resort in Kumbor, in the bay of Kotor, worth EUR 500 million.

Montenegro’s Minister of Labour and Social Welfare Predrag Bošković noted that the opening of the academy presents a different approach to tackling the labour market issue in Montenegro. He stressed the project will make even more significant long-term results than the investment in Kumbor itself, urging other investors to boost their social responsibility.

Finance Minister Radoje Žugić said that the Azmont Academy have invaluable importance for Montenegro’s further economic development, adding this project will contribute to reducing unemployment and strengthening the competitiveness of the local workforce.

Azmont Investments’s Executive Director James Wilson said they are already training the first 80 people.

“We expect to train 2.000 people, because at the peak of the construction, which, I think, is in the end of 2015, we will have about 6.500 people on the construction site,” he explained.

He also added that international tenders for selection of contractors will be announced on Wednesday, hoping that around 70% of successful companies will come from Montenegro or the region.

Azmont Academy is part of the company’s corporate social responsibility programme and the total investment over the next three years will amount to about EUR 2 million.

The first institution of this kind in Montenegro is a result of the cooperation established between the Azerbaijani company SOCAR and the Government of Montenegro, with the aim of solving the unemployment issue in the country, especially in the north, but also in other Montenegrin municipalities and in the region.