April 27, 2019 - The new civic protest in the organization of the ODUPRISE movement is most likely to be held on Tuesday, May 7, after which a meeting of opposition leaders will take place. For now, it is uncertain whether the meeting will be held without representatives of the Social Democratic Party (SDP), whose delegates participated in the replacement of Kotor's mayor Vladimir Jokic.

April 27, 2019 - Will Montenegro, like neighboring Croatia, soon become a gay-friendly tourist destination for millions of LGBT tourists from Europe and the world and is it ready to provide them with quality offers?

April 27, 2019 - The opening ceremony of XVIII KotorArt Don Branko's Days of Music, titled 'The Art of Remembrance', is traditionally held on 13 July, on the Statehood Day, in front of the Cathedral of St. Tripun, starting at 22h. This year's program celebrates 40 years since the earthquake and the status of UNESCO. 

KotorArt Announced Lecture by Ichak Adizes, Famous Management Researcher

KotorArt: PORTS OF ART- AUDITION 

April 26, 2019 - The new destinations and routes of the "Meeting of Cultures" project connect Sarajevo, Novi Sad and Kotor. It is just the beginning of the promotion of the memory of our ancestors, with the hope that this idea will expand to the entire region and be an example for the whole of Europe and the world, said the organizers of the seminar "Meeting of Cultures" in the church of St. Paul in Kotor.

"Watergroup" has produced water for 13 years. The experience gained in these years has led this company to take over the “Rada” mineral water plant project and restart the production in this factory.

Boris Raskovic, co-owner of “Watergroup doo” says that with the experience gained over the past 13 years, they entered this project very seriously, engaged experts from the region who are most famous in this field and who have set up similar projects in the region. In the last eight months, according to Raskovic, from the source to the factory itself, everything was practically made as new.

A lot of money was necessary to restart the production and therefore they entered the entire project with the support of the Investment-Development Fund.

"The total investment in “Rada” is about EUR 4 million, of which IRF funds amount to EUR 2.5 million. The loan repayment period is ten years, out of which the grace period is two years. The interest rate is 3.50% per annum. The procedure for getting the loan is quite complex; it included a complete analysis of the company, the collection of various data. We have experience in working with them for the realization of our previous projects, so we have done this one quite efficiently," Raskovic said.

There are currently 20 workers in the new factory. One of them is Miras Joksimovic, who was part of the staff 20 years ago when “Rada” was in state ownership.

"This is something new now, quite different; I believe that all of this will be all right and that the new owner will be able to make it operate even better," Joksimovic pointed out.

The investment-development fund has invested a significant part of the funds into the north of Montenegro and this project shows that new jobs are being opened in this part of the country. Slobodan Cvijovic, who graduated at the Faculty of Electrical Engineering, decided to return to his homeland.

"I was born here, my family is here and I plan to stay here and show that this city offers a perspective for youth and that we can live, work and progress here," said an employee at “Rada”, Slobodan Cvijovic.

The company believes that “Rada” will stand in the place that belongs to it, and on that occasion, Raskovic said that when the dice are in place, they will enter into new projects.

"The plan foresees that in time when all this is done, we will slowly introduce other products in the assortment. By this, we mean water with flavors and juices. By the realization of this project we really want to create a serious industry in the north, which will not only substitute a significant part of the import of these products in Montenegro but make an industry that will compete in parallel with similar companies in the region," Raskovic said.

"We believe that this project has the potential to restore that old glow to “Rada” and our task is to keep it going and slowly start exporting because “Rada” was exported once and was present in the region," Raskovic added.

As he said, he looks forward to having an institution in Montenegro ready to help the Montenegrin economy.

"If there is an opportunity given by the Investment-development fund, it should be used because, at least in that respect, you reduce some of the risks and the grace period makes it easier to, through already affordable loan rates, complete one financial part of the story more simply than in commercial banks," said Raskovic.

The company is aware that the Montenegrin market faces numerous problems, and that large imports in many cases create problems for domestic producers.

"We, as manufacturers, firstly need to create a quality product that will compete with reputable products from the region, then place it on the shelves and introduce ourselves to the ultimate customer, so he can choose our product, and not some other water," says Raskovic.

The new plant, “Rada”, has a production capacity of 15,000 liters of water per hour, and currently employs about 20 workers. The company announces that there will be more as the business expands.

Text by Promo, on April 26th 2019, read more at Vijesti

At the Jetty in AD Port of Adria, the cruise ship "Artania" of the German company "Phoenix Reisen", anchored which brought 1,051 passengers and 526 crew members on a one-day trip to Bar.

This is also the first cruiser that Port of Adria welcomed this season.

The guests from the cruise ship were welcomed by the folklore ensemble "Rumija", with “priganice”, cheese, honey, “rakija” and local wine, prepared by the Tourism organization (TO) Bar and PoA.

At the promenade near "Zero kilometer" there was the info-desk of TO Bar, where tourists could get information, city maps and advertising material on the municipality of Bar. At the stands, members of the NGO "Cluster of Tourism and Creative Industry Bar" offered guests traditional souvenirs and handicrafts from Bar.

"I'm delighted that Bar is a cruising destination also this year, and the arrival of this ship, which is in Bar for the first time this year, with about 1,600 passengers and crew members, is a sign that this season will be a success. We are still a new destination; therefore we must work on a cruising strategy to develop a unique product, impression and experience, as well as on the diversification of the products to obtain new and retain existing cruising companies," said the Director of Tourist organization Bar Emil Kukalj.

Tanja Novovic, the coordinator for PR and cruising activities at PoA, said that this company owned in majority by the Turkish GPH would host this year, besides the German, tourists from the British company "Marella Cruises", Spanish company “Pullmantur” and French company "CroisiEurope".

"By the end of the season, we in PoA expect another 16 cruisers, with about 23,000 passengers. We continue with the same intensity to promote Bar, raise the standards of the service so that we can accommodate both smaller ships and those belonging to new generations with several thousand passengers like the "Norwegian star " which we hosted two years ago," Novovic said.

Text by Radomir Petric, on April 26th 2019, read more at Vijesti

Within the media literacy campaign "Let's choose what to watch", with the support of UNICEF and the Montenegrin Electronic Media Agency, TVCG will broadcast the first episode of the new TV Journal for children and young people in Montenegro on Saturday, 27^th April at 7:10 pm in the internationally-known format of Wadada News for Kids, as announced by UNICEF.

Wadada News Montenegro is, as stated, a short TV Journal that is arranged by young reporters of media literacy campaign "Let's choose what to watch" with the experts from TVCG Children's redaction.

It will be broadcasted on the First TVCG Channel every Saturday at 7.10 pm and will also be replayed on the same channel every Saturday at 1.25 p.m.

As highlighted by UNICEF, the main novelty of Wadada News Montenegro is the participation of young people in producing news for them, as well as being the only media program of that kind offered in the local language for children and young people in Montenegro.

"Researching media literacy campaigns has shown that every other child in our country wants to participate in the production of children's media programs and we're happy that the Public Service responded first to this information by launching the Wadada News Montenegro Youth Journal," said the editor of Children's redaction in TVCG Milena Janjusevic.

Wadada News Montenegro is part of the international network Wadada News for Kids, which was established by the Dutch nonprofit organization Free Press Unlimited, in cooperation with media in various countries around the globe.

TVCG's Children's redaction launches this Journal after the Wadada News for Kids training, which is part of the media literacy campaign "Let's choose what to watch," with support from UNICEF and Montenegro's Agency for Electronic Media, organized in February of the current year.

The Montenegrin edition of Wadada News, as added by UNICEF, will be available within the international video library used by all the countries members of this network. This means that news that what young people produce in Montenegro can be translated and broadcasted in other countries, just as TVCG will download interesting news from other countries, translate and broadcast them.

"Experiences from other countries show that the Wadada Youth Journal is one of the most popular family shows, i.e., not only watched by children and young people, but also parents and other members of the family, as it is an information program that deals with topics that are included in the Journal for adults, but handles them in a way that is easier for children and young people to understand and it is more interesting to follow," says UNICEF.

Within the media literacy campaign UNICEF and AEM, "Let's choose what to watch", the Wadada News for Kids training organization and support for the Public Service to launch such a Journal for children and young people are based on the results of the first nationally representative research on children, parents and the media in Montenegro.

The study, according to UNICEF, among other things, showed that less than one-third of parents (29 percent) and children (27 percent) believe that Montenegrin TV channels have enough programs adapted to different children's ages, as well as content that children find interesting, useful, inspirational and educational.

Also, as added in the statement, research has shown that most parents (59%) believe that it is important for their child to watch TV content that includes children of the same age as their own. Children also show interest in seeing TV content in which children of their age are participating in, and every other child wants to participate in TV production and every parent supports this idea.

The media literacy campaign "Let's choose what to watch" was initiated by the Montenegrin Agency for Electronic Media and UNICEF with the aim of encouraging the development of media literacy for children and parents, as well as strengthening the media capacity to deliver quality media contents with children and young people and to report on an ethically correct manner on all issues of the children’s rights in Montenegro.

Text by Vijesti online, on April 26th 2019. read more at Vijesti

26 April 2019 - "Continuation of aluminum production is of great importance for the overall economic development of Montenegro, and through announced investments "Uniprom" will continue to strengthen its position on the aluminum market, which will greatly contribute to strengthening the Montenegrin economy," Minister of Economy of Montenegro Dragica Sekulić said marking the start of construction works on the factory of aluminum billets/logs within the Uniprom KAP.

Minister of Economy Dragica Sekulić and owner of Uniprom Veselin Pejović jointly marked the beginning of works on the factory.

Sekulić said that Uniprom – Aluminum Plant Podgorica was recognised as a subject with a clear vision, clearly defined short-term and long-term goals and guidelines for further development of the company.

"In addition to the already installed silumin factory, which will produce 30,000 tons of special alloys of an outstanding foreign market value of 75 million USD, which will be opened soon, we are starting to implement the next project, which is the construction of a new factory of aluminum billets/logs," Veselin Pejović said.

The opening of the Uniprom KAP factory is planned for December 2019. The planned value of this investment is approximately 15 million EUR. It is expected that these two factories will create 80 new jobs.

Prime Minister of Montenegro Duško Marković, on his recent visit to the factory, noted that investments in Uniprom KAP, around 36 million EUR thus far and an additional 30 million, are an excellent opportunity for Montenegro, its economy, industrial production, and export increase.

"A new modern industrial centre is practically being developed in Montenegro. I am sure that most citizens do not know about it, not only in Montenegro but also in Podgorica. New plants and new factories for the finalisation of aluminum production are being developed here," Prime Minister Marković said on this occasion. 

25 April 2019 - During the term of office of this Government, more than 15,000 new jobs have been created. As the Prime Minister, I am proud of this result, Prime Minister Duško Marković said at the Prime Minister's Questions session, which took place in the Parliament of Montenegro.

Answering a question about what the Government has done to improve the rights and quality of life of workers, Prime Minister Marković said that the Government had initiated an increase in the minimum wage by 15%, which will have a direct impact on about 35,000 employees.

The Prime Minister announced that the rate of income tax on earnings of natural persons will be reduced from 11% to 9%, adding that in public administration bodies the working hours changed from 7:00 to 15:00, which is more favourable for employees, especially for mothers.

"In addition to these measures, the Government continuously helps to solve the housing issues of employees. Since 2016, 318 employees in the education sector, 717 persons from the Police and 317 health workers have solved their housing issues under favourable conditions. Furthermore, the Housing Cooperative Healthcare, founded by two trade unions and the Ministry of Health, will allocate around 500,000 euros to its employees in 2019. I also recall the 1000+ Project, which has been present for a decade, and which enabled 1,162 family households to resolve their housing issues, of which 735 are from the public sector, and 427 from other social categories," Prime Minister Duško Marković pointed out.

25 April 2019 - An auction of state bonds was held at the Montenegro Stock Exchange this week. A total of 64.516 state bonds were sold, and their value totals 64.666.000 EUR, which is 34% of the issue. The auction was a success and the purchase of state bonds was made via three broker houses and two banks. According to the unofficial data, buyers were mostly insurance companies, banks, investors from the region and a small percentage of citizens. The auction was held to raise funds for financing state budget.

“The primary sale was made for two state bonds in the total amount of 190 million EUR. They are long-term debt bonds and the day of their maturity the owners will be paid one-off principal and annual interest. For state bonds with GB1-2024 trade symbol, issue amounted 140.000.00 EUR, with a total of 140.000 bonds and with a nominal value of 1.000 per bond,” said the representatives of Montenegro Stock Exchange.

Five years is their maturity deadline, or 2024. A bond is with a fixed interest rate. It amounts to 3%.

A total of 14.516 of bonds were sold at the auction and their total value amounted 14.516.000 EUR, which is 10,37% of the total issue.

“Since the entire quantity was not sold today, the primary sale will continue tomorrow,” said the representatives of MSE a few days ago.

As far as the sale of state bonds with trade symbol GB1-2026 is concerned, the amount of issue was 50.000.00 EUR. The total amount of bonds was 50.000 with a nominal value of 1.000 EUR per bond. The maturity deadline is 2026.

“This bond is charged with a fixed interest rate of 3,5%. The total amount of these bonds was sold at today’s auction. The demand was 12.645 higher than offered in the initial sale. Since the demand exceeded the offer, there was a little “competition” among the interested buyers. At 12:02, when the auction closed, we have come to the price of 1.003 EUR per bond. This means that the total value of the primary sale of this issue amounted 50.150.00 EUR,″ said the representatives of Montenegro Stock Exchange.

A total of 64.516 bonds, or 34% of the total issue, was sold at the auction which took place on April 22.