The 67th Cabinet session – 20 April 2022

The Montenegrin Cabinet, at its 67th session held on 20 April 2022, chaired by Prime Minister Zdravko Krivokapić adopted the Information on resolving the issue of further status of own shares of Montenegrin Electric Enterprise (EPCG). The Information states that EPCG is a joint stock company in which the State owns 88.65 percent of the share capital, and as of 26 September 2019, it has approximately 98 percent of management and other shares. On 26 September 2019, EPCG acquired 11,813,238 of its own shares, which are worth 10 percent of the share capital. Own shares shall not bear right to dividend and other income nor shall carry voting right at the Company’s general shareholders meeting and shall not be counted in the quorum of a general meeting of shareholders. EPCG acquired its own shares by the decisions of the Shareholders' Meeting, i.e. the majority owner - the State and the Board of Directors in the process of implementing the provisions of the Put Option Agreement concluded between the State and A2A. In accordance with the Companies' Act, the Company's own shares must be alienated within three years (by 26 September 2022 at the latest) or they will be voided. EPCG is in charge of continuing the procedure of alienating own shares through the sale to a strategic partner, in order not to reduce the capital and lose the invested funds of the company. The deadline for fulfillment of obligation is 30 June 2022.

The Draft Law on Ratification of the Singapore Treaty on the Law of Trademark has been adopted. The main feature of the Singapore Treaty is the simplification and harmonisation of administrative procedures for the submission of national or international applications for goods and services. For each of the procedures, the Singapore Treaty provides for a list of formal requirements that the contracting party or the authority responsible for receiving the application is obliged to fulfill. The Singapore Treaty also simplifies the procedure itself, thus providing for the acceptance of applications for several classes, which further means that one application may relate to several goods or services, regardless of whether they belong to one class or to several classes of the Nice Classification. The aim of passing the Law is to improve the system of filing applications for registration of trademarks, as well as to improve legal security for applicants and holders of trademarks. Also, the ratification of the Singapore Treaty on the Law of Trademark is one of the requirements of the European Union in the process of Montenegro's accession.

The Cabinet adopted the Information on activities on the implementation of priority projects in the field of agriculture for the period July-December 2021.

The Information on Montenegro's participation in the Expo 2025 Osaka was adopted. The Information states that the next World's Fair will be held in Osaka, Japan, from 13 April to 13 October 2025, under the umbrella theme "Designing Future Society for Our Lives", which includes three sub-themes: "Saving Lives", "Empowering Lives" and "Connecting Lives". Expo 2025 Osaka will be an opportunity to review the progress made so far in achieving the UN Sustainable Development Goals and to accelerate initiatives aimed at meeting these goals and to support the creation of a society based on the principles of sustainability, inclusiveness and diversity. The Expo will correspond to this time when new social challenges, including expanding economic gaps and heightened conflicts, are emerging while science technologies are evolving, including AI and biotechnologies, that will present changes to humankind, for example, extended life spans. In this regard, the Cabinet instructed the Ministry of Economic Development to coordinate project activities and to confirm Montenegro's participation in the Expo 2025 Osaka.

The Cabinet adopted the Information on the Status of Strategic Development Plans in Local Self-Government Units in Montenegro.

The Information on the proposal of activities that need to be undertaken in state administration bodies in order to raise cyber security to a higher level was adopted. In the process of digitalization and virtualization, special attention must be paid to the protection of digital services through which sensitive data is exchanged, financial transactions are performed and the like. Bearing in mind that the increased intensity of cyber attacks is evident, the Information Security Council made recommendations to intensify the implementation of activities from the Action Plan of the Cyber Security Strategy 2022-2026, as well as to take certain steps to prepare all actors to respond to threats and challenges, which include, among other things: preparation of training materials in the field of cyber security with accompanying instructions, implementation of the first cyber exercise, updating the list of local CIRT teams, as well as forming an interdepartmental operational team to provide support in response to a cyber incident.

The Cabinet adopted the Information on the need to sign the Second Additional Protocol to the Convention on Cybercrime on Enhanced Cooperation and Disclosure of Electronic Evidence and accepted the text of the Protocol. The purpose of this Protocol is to supplement the Convention on Computer Crime, as well as the Additional Protocol to the Convention relating to the Punishment of Acts of Racism and Xenophobia Committed through Computer Systems, thus enabling cooperation in emergency sitaations, as well as direct cooperation between the competent authorities and service providers and other entities.

The Cabinet adopted the Report on the Implementation of the National Gender Equality Strategy 2021-2025 with the 2021 Action Plan, which contains a detailed overview of implemented activities. Since the Law on Budget and the National Strategy, with the Action Plan 2021-2022 were adopted in the third quarter of last year, the implementation of the planned measures for 2021 could not be achieved as planned, so the Ministry of Justice, Human and Minority Rights will consider the possibilities for some of the remaining measures to be implemented in the current year. The implementation of activities from this plan was financed mainly by partner international organisations (OSCE Mission, UNDP Office) and donor funds.