Montenegro's Cabinet Session

  

At today's 69th session, chaired by Prime Minister Duško Marković, the Government of Montenegro adopted the Draft Law on Sports, in acordance with the defined programme priorities.

This law regulates activiies of public interest in the field of sports, rights and obligations of natural persons in sport, the way of establishment and work, as well as procedures for the termination of the work of sports organisations. The Draft Law prescribes provisions regulating children's, school, student and recreational sports, finalises the legal provisions on top athlets and prescribes the obligation to create a Categorisation of Sports, with defined criteria. The Draft Law provides the basis for financing and co-financing the construction, reconstruction, adaptation and equipping of sports facilities. It is also envisaged to establish an institution for determining the health fitness of athlets. The system of financing sports is improved, by specifying the procedures for co-financing sport organisations and controlling the dedicated spending of funds.

The Government adopted the Decision on Amendments to the Decision on the Establishment of the List of Medicines of special importance for the health of insured people, prescribed and issued by the compulsory health insurance. The Decision stipulates the authority of the Ministry of Health to grant, in exceptional cases, the use of a medicine for the treatment of rare diseases at the exspense of the Health Insurance Fund. In the discussion, the Minister of Health pointed out the fact that most of the medicines from the List are the cheapest in Montenegro, that is, 89% of medicines from the List are cheaper in Montenegro than in Serbia, where prices of medicines are among the lowest in the Region.

The Government adopted the Report on the State of Spatial Planning in 2017, which is an integral overview of the state of the spatial planning in Montenegro, at the state and local level.

The Draft Law on Amendments to the Law on Prevention of Money Laundering and Financing of Terrorism was adopted at today's session, which creates a real basis for improving the legal framework in order to fully comply with the MANEYVAL recommendations, the newly adopted FATF standards, the Directive (EU) 2015/849 of the European Parliament and the Council of 20 May 2015 on prevention of the use of the financial system in the purpose of money laundering or terrorist financing and other international standards in this field.

The Action Plan for Implementation of the Strategy for Public Information on Montenegro's Accession to the EU 2014-2018, for 2018, with the Report on the Implementation of the Action Plan for 2017, was adopted. It was concluded that in the last year, 141 (91%) of the planned 154 activities were fully implemented, and 13 (9%) activities were not realised ot were postponed for 2018. In the current year, 148 activities are planned, and the focus of communication among the Government, Parliament, local self-governments, civil society and international partners will be centred on the flow of accession negotiations and EU support programmes.

The Governement adopted the Action Plan for Implementation of the Strategy for Integrated Migration Management in Montenegro for the period 2017-2020, for 2018, with the Report for 2017. Among other things, the new Action Plan is significant and specific both in terms of two closely related, but often separate, migration and asylum issues. The planned goals and measures clearly point to Montenegro's commitment to regulate this area in accordance with the highest internatonal standards and nest European practices, which will ensure effective protection of persons who really need international protection, while simultaneously reducing the possibility of abuse of this system for the purpose of economic and social migration.

An Action Plan for Implementation of the Strategy for Social Inclusion of Roma and Egyptians 2016-2020, for 2018, with the Report on Implementation of the Action Plan for 2017, were adopted at today's Cabinet session. The Strategy defines its implementation through one-year action plans that specify the priority annual measures and activities.

The Government adopted the Action Plan for Implementation of the Strategy for Disaster Risk Reduction for the period 2018-2019.

The Report on Implementation of the Capital Budget of the Directorate of Public Works for the period from 1 January 2017 until 31 December 2017 was adopted. The total implementation of the last year's Capital Budget of the Directorate in the total amount of around EUR 50 million was assessed as a major step forward in the construction of social infrastructure facilities in several areas.

The Government adopted the Agreement on the use of funds for the implementation of the project "Industrial waste management and cleaning" for remediation of the location of Pljevlja, among the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry for Sustainable Developent and Tourism, and the Electric Power Industry of Montenegro in the amount of EUR 4 million provided by the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development.

In order to promote the domestic economy and improve the positioning of Montenegrin products on the domestic market, the Government adopted the Programme of Promotion of Domestic Products and Services: Good from Montenegro.

The Programme for Improving the Innovation of Small and Medium Enterprises for 2018 was adopted. Financial support is focused on covering the costs of consulting services of innovative activities on the principle that the company finances 100 percent of all costs until the completion of the innovative activity for which it is competing, and then it is granted a refund of portion of the costs in the amount of up to 50 percent of the eligible costs.

The Government adopted amendments to the Programme for Increasing Regional and Local Competitiveness through harmonisation with the requirements of international business standards for the period 2017-2020, for 2018.

The Government adopted the Report on Implementation of the Action Plan for Implementation of the Integrated Border Management Strategy in 2017, with the relevant Action Plan for Implementation of the Integrated Border Management Strategy in 2018. The Strategy agreed an integrated border management system in line with the recommendations and best practices of the European Union. The Government also adopted the Report on the conduct of negotiations between the delegations of Montenegro and the Republic of Serbia for the conclusion of agreements on border crossings and border traffic with proposals of agreements and protocols, as well as the Report on the conduct of negotiations for the conclusion of the Protocol on the establishment of a border point among Montenegro, the Republic of Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina, with the Protocol Proposal.