Damjanović – Salinas meeting

   

Minister of Science Dr. Sanja Damjanović met today with Country Manager for Montenegro in the Europe and Central Asia region of the World Bank, Mr. Emanuel Salinas.

At the beginning of the meeting, Minister Damjanović thanked Mr. Salinas for the cooperation and significant support of the World Bank in the implementation of the HERIC project, which is of great importance of Montenegro. Furthermore, she expressed satisfaction with the final results achieved, emphasising that these were sustainable projects that would continue to operate even after the official closing of the HERIC project.

Minister Damjanović also familiarised Mr. Salinas with the activities of the Ministry, which included the discussion on the manners of implementation of the Smart Specialisation Strategy, Science and Technology Park, as well as the establishment of the innovation ecosystem.

  

Mr. Salinas thanked his host for the reception and expressed his satisfaction with the results of the HERIC project, indicating the possibility of further cooperation with the World Bank in many areas, especially those that are assessed as priority for support. According to him, the World Bank will stand ready to define the specific cooperation areas in the coming period along with the Ministry of Science, with a focus on those domains that could contribute to further progress and development of Montenegro, such as the areas defined by the Smart Specialisation Strategy: digitalisation, energy, sustainable agriculture, health tourism.

As a reminder, the project of “Higher Education and Research for Innovation and Competitiveness” (HERIC) was implemented in partnership between the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Science, with funds in the amount of 12 EUR million made available through a World Bank loan. The project was implemented in the period from 2012 to 2019.