Prime Minister Zdravko Krivokapić attended the session of the Competitiveness Council chaired by Minister of Economic Development Jakov Milatović.

In his introductory address, PM Krivokapić thanked all members for their dedicated work within the Council, which has, perhaps, the most important mission for Montenegro.

The key reasons that are the basis for this mission of the Council are first of all the fight against the grey economy, which is the most important issue for creating preconditions for creating competitiveness, as well as statements, facts and work of this Government that has created good preconditions for 2022 to be a key year of capital investments, said Prime Minister Krivokapić.

The first part of the session was dedicated to the dialogue of the Prime Minister with business associations-members of the Council, on the topic of improving the business environment in Montenegro.

Representatives of business associations had the opportunity to ask the Prime Minister questions and give their views on the main challenges they most often face in business. The key issues were: grey economy, support for women's entrepreneurship, foreign trade deficit, corporate governance and wage relief.

Answering the questions, the Prime Minister pointed out that the improvement of the business environment and the elimination of barriers in business is at the top of the government's agenda, and that the "Europe Now!" Programme is the biggest step forward in the fight against the grey economy.

This Government does not want to close the door to problems, but to solve them together. We want to create an environment in which competitiveness will mean that all participants in the process have the same starting position, and are equal in the race in which the best will win. What is missing is the application of equal standards through laws, rules and procedures, as well as their consistent application, which is also the task of this Government. We can rightly say that we care equally for every citizen, for every businessman and for every investor, said Krivokapić.

President of the Competitiveness Council Jakov Milatović informed the Prime Minister about the work of this body so far and reminded of the importance of this key government platform for public-private dialogue, improving competitiveness and the investment climate, about the composition of this body, in which for the first time there are representatives of women's entrepreneurship as members, which in particular contributes to the economic empowerment of women, as well as activities within the Council.

There are currently 8 active working groups with over 45 representatives of the economy, i.e. members who are not representatives of the public sector, Milatović said.

The Minister praised the participation of the representatives of the economy in the work of the Council, which regularly submit the necessary inputs and thus contribute to the creation of economic policy.

The session of the Council was an opportunity for Minister of Finance and Social Welfare Milojko Spajić to present the Information on the set of tax reforms in the field of the labour market. As he stated, these measures are part of the "Europe Now!" Programme, which aims to attract new investments and send a message to young people not to leave Montenegro.

Spajić said that the good tourist season, open borders, coherent consumer policy, as well as stable tax policy contributed to the surplus and the growth of Montenegrin economic activity.

All future measures taken by this Government will be in line with our clear and long-term vision of Montenegro being a country like Luxembourg or Switzerland, Spajić said, adding that the importance of the business community is very important and called on them to contribute to creating these policies.

After the dialogue with the Prime Minister, the Council continued with its regular work, and the main topic of the session was the labour market. The Youth Employment Support Programme was also presented to the members of the Council.

The Secretariat to the Competitiveness Council presented the document Barriers to business faced by the business community, based on inputs received from business associations. The document contains a list of legal and institutional barriers that the economy faces.

At today's session, the Report on the involvement of the private sector in the process of adopting regulations at the national level for the three quarters of 2021 was adopted.

The next session of the Council is planned for December.