Damjanović – Reinke meeting

Minister of Science of Montenegro Dr. Sanja Damjanović met today with Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the United States of America to Montenegro, H. E. Judy Rising Reinke.

Minister Damjanović welcomed the delegation on behalf of the Ministry, reflecting on the key activities and projects implemented by the Ministry of Science on a national, regional and international level. In this regard, Minister Damjanović particularly emphasised the importance of the regional project of establishing the South East European International Institute for Sustainable Technologies – SEEIIST, relevant not only to Montenegro, but also to the region of South East Europe as a whole. The minister also recalled the activities undertaken by the Ministry of Science to prepare and finalise the Smart Specialisation Strategy (S3), whose adoption, planned by the end of May, would make Montenegro the first country in the region to have such a strategy. The document itself, whose future implementation will be a great challenge for the country, opens numerous possibilities for cooperation between Montenegrin and American business entities, which, according to Minister Damjanović, can also be achieved through the project of establishing the first Science and Technology Park in Montenegro.

Furthermore, Minister Damjanović expressed her concern with the outflow of talents, not only from our country, but also from the region, which is precisely the reason why she had previously stressed the importance of establishing a large research infrastructure embodied in the projects of Science and Technology Park and SEEIIST. These projects would also encourage cooperation between scientists and researchers, accelerating at the same time the economic development of the region through cooperation between science and economy, which is among the priorities of the EU agenda in the field of science, research and innovation. “We have great ideas, scientists, capable people who are waiting for the opportunity to put their vision into action”, the minister said, indicating the need to attract globally renowned companies to Montenegro.

Ambassador of the United States of America to Montenegro H. E. Judy Rising Reinke agreed with Minister Damjanović’s views regarding the goals of Montenegro in the field of innovation, infrastructure building and platform implementation, pointing to the need for all projects implemented by the line ministry to be promoted. In this regard, mutual support was expressed to promotion of joint activities in the media, as well as to activities of the Ministry of Science in promoting the Global Entrepreneurship Summit to be held in The Hague in June. It was also agreed to focus future attention on programmes such as Fulbright Scholarships and Regional Programmes of the Government of the United States of America that are open to participation of Montenegro. Given the large number of scientists and researchers from the region who live and work in the United States, the topic of the Montenegrin diaspora, especially the scientific one, was recognised as a very important issue to be addressed jointly in the coming period.

On behalf of the ministry of Science, the meeting was also attended by Dr. Darko Petrušić, Director of the Directorate for Scientific Research Activities, as well as by Ms. Smilja Kažić-Vujačić, Head of the Section for International Cooperation and EU Integration and Dr. Nina Radulović, Adviser to the Minister of Science and a member of the team for drafting the S3 Strategy.

Finally, the meeting was also attended by Milena Labović, Political and Economic Assistant at U.S. Embassy in Podgorica.