09 January 2019 - In the last three years, operators invested around 250 million EUR in electronic communications, said CEO of the Agency for Electronic Communications and Postal Services, Darko Grgurović.

He thinks that the trend of the positive development of this sector was continued, both in the context of infrastructure and provision of services.

“Investment volume in the last couple of years was higher than the third of total revenues of this sector. For comparison, in the EU states, investments at an annual level range from 12-15% of the revenue in the electronic communications sector,” says Grgurović.

He said that 117 million EUR was invested in 2016, that is, 50,8% of the total revenue of the sector. In 2017, there was around 82 million EUR of investments. Last year 44,8 million EUR were invested, and around 33,7 million EUR are planned for this year. Considering that the greatest operators at the Montenegrin market operate within the world-famous and regional telecommunication groups, it can be stated that they are stable and that a predictable regulatory framework that guarantees further development of the market has been established.

“Montenegro is recognized as a state with favourable business environment, that is improving with years. With NATO accession and with continuous progress in the European integration, Montenegro became even more attractive for the investors in all fields,” said Grgurović.

Huge investments in the sector of electronic communications led to increasing int he number of connections, quality and reduction in service prices.

“Increase in the number of connections caused penetration of the broadband Internet access by 73,4% concerning the number of households. Judging by this indicator, Montenegro came closer to the EU states regarding penetration average which amounted 75% at the end of 2017,” said Grgurović.

By degree of mobile networks signal coverage, Montenegro can be compared to the most developed states of Europe. All the three operators provide 99% of GSM coverage. All these indicators point out the continuous development of technologies and the accessibility of the most contemporary services.

Montenegrin Electronic Communication Operators have invested in the Montenegrin market more than 500 million EUR in the past ten years. Also, the Agency built five facilities for the control and monitoring of radio-frequency spectre, main measurement and control centre, regional measurement and control centre and three remote measurement and control stations in Pljevlja, Rožaje and Kotor.

The company Voli Trade, owned by Dragan Bokan, bought two parcels of the former factory "Radoje Dakić" for EUR 5.65 million, where he plans to build the most modern hypermarket in this part of Europe, according to “Dnevne novine.” Yesterday, Voli said that the bankruptcy administration of the factory confirmed the purchase of 19,960 square meters.

"Today we received information that a decision was made confirming our purchase of a part of the land of the former factory Radoje Dakić," said Voli trade.

One of the largest retail chains in Montenegro will also build a shopping center on the premises of the former factory. 

"We plan to build a state-of-the-art hypermarket in this part of Europe, as well as a shopping center with an exclusive offer, a new and modern trading concept. We also plan to build a new administrative building," said the company. 

At the opening of bids at the Commercial Court at the end of December last year, Mladen Markovic, the bankruptcy administrator of "Radoje Dakic", said that Voli trade was the only interested bidder in the fourth tender, at which the remaining assets of the company were sold at an initial price of almost 45 million euros. The property was first offered for 66.5 million euros, the second time for 60 million and the third for 49 million euros. 

"Voli delivered an offer for the purchase of 10,060 square meters for 2.85 million, while for the remaining 9,900 meters, it offered EUR 2.8 million," Markovic stated at the Commercial Court, adding that the company offered 13 euros more than the initial advertised prices. The factory "Radoje Dakic" from Podgorica has been bankrupt since 2016 due to a tax debt of 10.7 million euros.

Text by Dnevne novine, on January 10th, 2019, read more at CdM

On Tuesday, January 15th, the implementation of the Vocational Training Program for university graduate students begins. The seventh generation, out of 3,298 graduates, through the two liaison circuits, chose an employer for vocational training.

As announced from the Employment Agency of Montenegro, employers offered a total of 11,007 jobs this year, out of which 4,103 are in the private sector and 6,904 in the public sector. More than two-thirds of the offered work positions remained vacant.

The interest of graduate students for the private and public sector is almost equal. With private employers, 1,697 university students will be trained, and 1,601 in the public sector.

During the application period for university students, there were 3,600 college students without work experience in the Employment Agency records.

Let’s recall, through the program of vocational training for persons with faculty education, through the sixteen previous cycles more than 20,000 university students passed. Professional training of participants lasts nine months and is recognized as a work experience of 12 months and as a condition for taking the appropriate professional exam with a university degree.

Up to now, about 52 million euros have been allocated for the implementation of vocational training programs.

According to the analysis carried out by the Ministry of Education, in cooperation with the Tax Administration, about 50 percent of users after completing the Vocational Training Program continue their work engagement with the same or another employer.

Text by CdM, on January 10th, 2019, read more at CdM

Tourist workers in Zabljak are satisfied with the visits during the New Year's holidays. Director of Savin Kuk ski resort, Milutin Tomić does not hide his pleasure and emphasizes that record turnout was recorded during the holidays.

"Every day, during the New Year's holidays, we had from one thousand to one thousand and a half visitors, both skiers and visitors who used our catering facilities. These are mostly guests from Montenegro, but we also had guests from Albania, Slovenia, Croatia, Austria, Germany," said Tomić to Info Biro.

The manager of the ski trail Javorovača Nikola Rondović agreed with him.

"The ski center Javorovača recorded good visits over these days. There is enough snow. As for the New Year and Christmas holidays, there was a good turnout, and the capacities were fully booked. We have mostly domestic guests and family people. For the New Year's holidays, there were guests from Dubrovnik who came here for the fifth year in a row," said Rondović.

The National restaurant Crno jezero is a place where you can try traditional local cuisine throughout the whole year.

The manager of the restaurant Crno jezero, Dragan Papić, does not hide his pleasure as well. "As far as the winter tourist season is concerned, we are mostly satisfied. The attendance is high, both for New Year and Christmas holidays, and we still have a lot of guests," Papić said.

The manager of hotel Zabljak Dragana Obradovic says this year's visit is better than last year's.

"As for the holidays, there was a huge attendance. As for the current period, we are also happy with the visits. For now, we have more domestic than foreign guests, and the reason is probably that the school break is still on in Montenegro and these are mostly families," she said.

Text by Info Biro, on January 8th 2019, read more at CdM

07 January 2019 - The Real Estate Administration started drawing up an Address register that will collect records of the numbers of houses, streets and squares and that will be the main focus of the Real Estate Administration in 2019, said the first man of the administration, Dragan Kovačević. The address register is one of the key registers of the e-government and therefore, the importance of its establishment will be multiple.

“Areas in which this register will be particularly important are demographic, economic and territorial statistics, spatial planning, performing activities that fall within the competence of police, Armed Forces, tourism, healthcare, education and many other activities from the everyday life,” said Kovačević.

Real Estate Administration started this project last year, in cooperation with the Statistical Office of Montenegro, local administrations and Ministry of Public Administration of Montenegro.

“The first step in drawing up the Register is that the competent institutions analyze the existing situation at the local and central level, as well as that they recognize the needs of the users of the Address register that is supposed to provide the possibility of fast, efficient and reliable business. With the aim of the future cooperation, Real estate Administration has set up a workshop in the cooperation with the Norwegian Cartography Agency. Based on the experience from the meetings held and the analysis of the current situation, the Real Estate Administration has prepared a comprehensive proposal activities plan. Plan of the implementation of this project has been presented, and all the participants of this program agree with the proposed activities,” explained Kovačević.

Kovačević said that this Register would significantly simplify the implementation of regulations in 2021.

“Together with other data from other relevant registers, this approach will facilitate the organization of activities and reduce financial costs,” said Kovačević.

Source: Cafe del Montenegro

07 January 2019 - According to Dr Veselin Vukotić, the Rector of the University of Donja Gorica, the critical thing in every debt is its connection with the profit that it generates once invested in a particular business. As long as the debt is seen in the context of profit it can generate, there is no negative impact on development.

The University of Donja Gorica hosted traditional Christmas discussions about the economy on January 6th. The topic of the 27th discussions was "Public debt and development“.

The host, Dr Veselin Vukotić, reminded that public debt was one of the causes of the downfall of our civilization. He pointed out that statement that 65% is the endurance limit of the national economy is false.

The debt was discussed in the context of development too.

“As long as the profit from investments of debt is higher than the debt itself, the debt is the stimulus of the development,” says Vukotić.

As he said, the debt refers to future profit, and profit can not be made without investments, innovation and entrepreneurship.

“If the debt is developmental, it makes us think about the future. If it’s aimed at expenditure and maintaining the status quo, political or any other, then it’s dangerous for the development,” said Vukotić.

He also noted that the future “lies in the information society”.

"We need to get two things straight. First, national states are losing power. Second, fight for the preservation of the identity of the states means captivating the vision," pointed out Vukotić.

Quoting the words of Dalai Lama, Vukotić concluded that “Our only possibility to respond to the challenges of today is education”.