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Press release from 135th Cabinet session

Published on: Sep 20, 2019 • 1:11 AM Author: PR Service
Podgorica, Montenegro (19 September 2019) -- At today’s session, the Montenegrin Cabinet noted that after frequent incidents of fish seizures in rivers resulting from the discharge of various wastewater, the status of the watercourses is alarming and requires urgent systemic action to ensure institutional and coordinated activities and measures in order to prevent new incidents. By adopting the Information on the degradation of fishing waters (rivers, river beds, natural and artificial lakes, canals, streams, reservoirs and other waters inhabited by fish and other aquatic organisms) resulting from the discharge of wastewater and disposal of various types of waste, the Government accepted the proposal of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development to set a special working group for defining standards and urgent and synchronised action, consisting of representatives of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, Ministry of Sustainable Development and Tourism, Inspection Directorate, Police Authority, State Prosecutor's Office and basic courts, competent testing laboratories, the Association of Sport Fisheries Organisations, science community, community of municipalities, the Chamber of Commerce, the civil sector and other relevant institutions. The Investment and Development Fund is tasked to open a special credit line for business entities investing in the construction of treatment plants.

The Government also passed the Draft Law amending the Law on Classified Information, which harmonises this Law with the Law on Public Administration, prescribes the competencies of the authorities in the procedure of issuing licenses for access to classified information for employees of the Ministry of Defence and the Armed Forces of Montenegro and corrects certain provisions of the current Law for a more precise interpretation and application. The proposed text accepts, in relation to the previous version of the Draft Law, the remarks of the part of the civil sector concerning the grounds for declaring the information secret: the stipulation that the basis for declaring the information secret may also have a detrimental effect on the exercise of the organ's function was removed from the previous text. 

Due to organisational and personnel changes, for the purpose of smooth functioning and greater efficiency in work, the Cabinet passed the Decision amending the Decision on the establishment of the Working Group for preparation and conduct of negotiations on the accession of Montenegro to the EU acquis relating Chapter 24 - Justice, freedom and security. In addition, in line with an inclusive and open approach, representatives of the non-governmental sector have been included in the work of the group on the basis of a public call launched by the Office for European Integration in July 2019.

Today's session adopted the Twenty-second Quarterly Report on Total Activities in the Process of Integration of Montenegro into the European Union for the Period April - June 2019, which contains an overview of the most important activities related to the political dialogue of Montenegro with the European Union, accession negotiations, informing the public about the process of accession, activities of the Committee on European Integration of the Parliament of Montenegro, implementation of the Stabilisation and Association Agreement, harmonisation of domestic with European legislation and Instrument for Pre-accession Support - IPA. For regular and comprehensive information and exchange of views on current topics and challenges of the negotiation process, the Report is forwarded to the members of the Committee on European Integration of the Parliament of Montenegro.

The Cabinet adopted the Information on the situation in the manufacturing sector. The discussion stated that in July of the current year, industrial production experienced a growth of 5% compared to the same month of the previous year, as a result of growth in all sectors of the industry, with manufacturing’s annual growth of 3.3%. It was also pointed out that the implementation of various national support programmes for the development of the manufacturing industry and entrepreneurship in the form of incentives for direct investment and modernisation of the manufacturing industry, green economy development, digitisation, cluster development, combined with programmes in the fields of education, science, research and innovation , labour markets, supported by available EU, IPA and other donour funding, create the conditions for increasing the competitiveness of this extremely important sector of the economy.

The Government adopted the Information on the initiation of the procedure for awarding a concession for port services in the water area of the Port of Bar, with the proposal of the Concession Act and the Concession Agreement. In the water area of the Port of Bar, the mentioned port services are already performed by "Ocean Montenegro" Ltd. as a Concessionaire, starting in 2010, and the concession was granted for a period of 30 years. Given that in the past period the number of ships and/or cargo transshipment has increased, the introduction of new concessionaires will enable an even greater level of provision of quality, specialised and integrated services to all users. The award of a concession for port services, in accordance with all national and international regulations and standards, contributes to the improvement of security, safety and quality of service in this area.

Today’s Cabinet meeting also adopted the Information on the need to improve the work of the Council for the Care of Persons with Disabilities. In line with the recommendation of the UN Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities that States Parties designate one or more centres within the Government for issues related to the implementation of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, in order to establish a coordination mechanism that will facilitate implementation of measures in different sectors and at various levels, a conclusion was issued mandating the Ministry of Labour and Social Welfare to draft a decision on the establishment of the Council for the Care of Persons with Disabilities. The decision will set up the Council as a Government-level body, with ministers of line ministries, as well as representatives of the non-governmental sector, as members.

The Government adopted the Report on activities undertaken in the field of national brand development. The Report stated that the International Public Competition for the Selection of the Logo and Slogan of the National Brand of Montenegro, which was opened until 4 July 2019, received 24 tenders, none of which, according to the Commission, met the set criteria. Bearing in mind the importance of the national brand for positioning Montenegro in international contexts, including foreign investments, tourism visits, political partnerships, demand for domestic products in foreign markets and numerous other areas, the Government tasked the Ministry of Economy to re-launch the public competition by the end of September 2019, as well as to increase the prize amount from EUR 10,000 to EUR 50,000.

The Government adopted the Second Report on implementation of activities for the preparation of Montenegro's participation in the 2020 Dubai World Expo. 

The Government also passed the Decision amending the Decision on severance pay in the event of a mutually terminated employment of public sector employees. The Amended Decision calculates the severance pay amount in net amount, i.e., it is not reduced by the percentage of tax, which is an average of 11% of the calculated amount.

The Cabinet adopted the Information on the e-Petition "Save Sinjajevina Mountain - declare Sinjajevina a protected area and a nature park". The Government did not accept the e-Petition since the Spatial Plan of Montenegro stipulates that the selection and designation of complexes and locations necessary for the functioning of the defence system shall be made on the basis of legal and strategic documents governing the area of defence of Montenegro and that, in accordance with the Law on Defence, the Government had adopted the Strategic Defence Review and the Long-term Defence Development Plan 2019-2028, which define, inter alia, that one of the key priorities of the Ministry of Defence is to establish a military training ground in the Sinajevina Mountain to provide conditions for tactical exercises of units up to the rank of battalion and firing of infantry weapons and artillery of the Armed Forces. It was pointed out that the Ministry of Defence of Montenegro does not intend to build infrastructure facilities in the area of Sinjajevina, and in order to eliminate any doubts about possible pollution, the Ministry will, in cooperation with competent and accredited institutions, provide a transparent system of environmental monitoring.

PUBLIC RELATIONS SERVICE OF THE GOVERNMENT

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