Press release from 82nd Cabinet session: OGP, Government's communication strategy

Podgorica, Montenegro (21 June 2018) -- At today's 82nd session, the Montenegrin Cabinet passed the Decision on the Establishment and Composition of the Operational Team of the Open Government Partnership (OGP) and adopted the Information on further activities of Montenegro in this initiative with the Plan of Action until 2019.

The Decision sets up the Operational Team, which is headed by the Minister of Public Administration, and whose members are representatives of the Office of the Prime Minister, Office of the Deputy Prime Minister for Political System, Interior and Foreign Policy, General Secretariat of the Government, secretaries of the Ministry of Justice and the Ministry of Finance, representative of the Chamber of Commerce of Montenegro, as well as five representatives of non-governmental organisations dealing with improving public services, increasing public integrity, more efficient management of public resources, establishing safer communities and increasing corporate social responsibility. Bearing in mind the need to improve coordination in relation to fulfilling obligations defined by membership in the OGP, and above all the adoption of the Annual Action Plan, it was proposed to pass the new decision on the establishment and the composition of the Open Government Partnership’s Operational Team.

The Information stated that, in order to overcome the current situation, the Minister of Public Administration at a meeting with the Delegation of OGP in June 2018 voiced Montenegro’s full commitment to achieving goals of the global initiative which implies improvement of the transparency of public administration, strengthening of the role of civil society and citizens in the creation of public policies, etc. The proposed plan of actions implies the holding of several meetings of the Operational Team with a view to developing the Action Plan and adopting it by the end of this year.

The Government also approved the Report on the work of the Commission for developing the Communication Strategy of the Government of Montenegro for the period February - June 2018, which contains an overview of the most important activities, as well as the key assessments of the UK experts regarding the current state and basic needs for strengthening personal and institutional communication capacities of the Government and ministries, as well as proposals and conclusions of the Commission regarding further activities towards strengthening the said capacities, in cooperation with experts from the Communication Service of the Government of the United Kingdom.

The Commission stated in the Report that in the continuation of the project, the Government's Communication Strategy for the period 2018-2020 will be developed, along with the Action Plan for 2018. The envisaged activities are as follows: development of strategic communication plans, establishment of a structure for centralised coordination of online communication between the Government and ministries, organisation of trainings for creation of various types of communication contents, programme of continuous training of employees in state administration bodies with the aim of improving communication skills, developing the rules of internal communication and establishing the unique appearance of documents of the Government of Montenegro.

Today’s Cabinet session also passed the Draft Law on International Restrictive Measures. This law regulates the method of introducing, applying and abolishing international restrictive measures implemented in order to establish and preserve international peace and security, respect human rights and fundamental freedoms, fight against terrorism and spread weapons for mass destruction, strengthening of democracy and the rule of law, and achieving other goals in accordance with international law.

The law is aimed at enhancing institutional capacity when responding in the event of situations that imply implementation of restrictive measures, and strengthening capacities for the implementation of the obligations envisaged by the UN resolutions, and EU directives and contributing to further confirmation of Montenegro as a credible partner in the implementation of commitments and activities contributing to security in a global context. The law, inter alia, implements the recommendations of the Committee of Experts of the Council of Europe to assess the compliance of anti-money laundering and terrorist financing measures (MONEYVAL) relating to the freezing of funds used to finance terrorism.

Today’s Cabinet session also passed the Draft Law Amending the Law on Postal Services. The proposed changes and modifications regulate the issue of financing and sustainability of the universal postal service.

As part of the implementation of the European Agenda, the Government approved the Novel Food regulation, the National Programm for the Promotion of Quality of Raw Milk with a plan for the handling of non-compliant raw milk and the Management Plan for Animal By-products that are not intended for the diet of people.

PUBLIC RELATIONS SERVICE OF THE GOVERNMENT OF MONTENEGRO