04 April 2019 - Prime Ministers of Montenegro and Romania, Duško Marković and Vasilica Viorica Dăncilă, agreed in Bucharest that the two countries have established friendly relations and partnership in NATO, that both aim to deepen economic cooperation, and that the successful completion of European accession of Montenegro and the continuation of European integration of other Western Balkan countries is the best framework for the stability of this part of Europe.

"We talked about the development of bilateral relations, successful cooperation within NATO, as well as the potential for strengthening our relations. Montenegro, as a NATO member, a country in far-reaching negotiations with the European Union and among the highest rates of economic growth in Europe, wants partners from the EU and NATO with whom it can develop successful economic cooperation," Prime Minister Duško Marković told a press conference following the official talks.

Prime Minister Dăncilă stressed that Montenegro is a country that can set an example to others in the region, adding that Romania gives priority to the Western Balkans. She underlined that Bucharest's official policy is to evaluate each state on individual merits.

The Prime Minister of Montenegro thanked his host for the support, noting that the country fully understands and supports Romania's efforts to fulfill the priorities of the presidency of the Council of the European Union in a very complex environment.

"Our ambitions are clear, our goal is to open the last negotiating chapter, Chapter 8 - Competition, and create the conditions for closing the chapter. We are encouraged by the support of Romania and the open and constructive talks we have had. We are focused on our obligations and we are not burdened with the developments within the Union, we do not base our plans and goals on this, and we make it clear to our partners. For us, Romania is not only a friend but also a partner who can, with its experience, help Montenegro achieve a strategic commitment of EU membership. We also appreciate Romania's understanding of the region of the Western Balkans and the significance of its European perspective," said Prime Minister Duško Marković.

Prime Minister Dăncilă underscored that Romania fully supports the ambitions of Montenegro in the EU integration process, including the plan to open the only remaining negotiating chapter.

The prime ministers announced concrete steps in terms of economic cooperation, including a meeting of the mixed commission of the two countries and the organisation of an economic forum that would bring together business communities of Montenegro and Romania. Agriculture, energy and tourism are recognised as concrete areas of cooperation. Direct cooperation within NATO was agreed in several areas.

The meeting of Prime Minister Duško Marković and President of Romania Klaus Werner Iohannis focused on European integration of Montenegro.

By the same token, the Romanian President said that in almost five years of his mandate, he has been taking the position that the European Union is not complete without the Western Balkans, and that NATO is not complete without the Western Balkan countries. It is a good thing that Montenegro is in NATO, President Iohannis pointed out, hopeful that the the successful continuation of Montenegro' European integration will continue, which, in his words, requires patience.

The Prime Minister exchanged views with the top Romanian officials about the issues of the Western Balkans and beyond.

Prime Minister Duško Marković will end his official visit to Romania late this afternoon with a meeting with Parliament Speaker Călin Popescu-Tăriceanu.

04 April 2019 - Representatives of the Government of Montenegro met earlier today with the delegation of the Municipality of Ulcinj, led by President of the Municipality Ljoro Nrekić. The meeting noted that the Government of Montenegro is strongly focused on the development of Ulcinj, and the improvement of the overall infrastructure creates conditions for the valorization of precious natural resources. 

Congratulating the citizens and local leadership on the forthcoming Ulcinj Municipality Day, representatives the Government of Montenegro emphasised the importance of responsible attitude towards public finance and praised the results the local government achieved in terms of stabilizing public finances. 

They also stressed that it is vital that infrastructure projects are implemented in a satisfactory and high-quality manner. He recalled the fund that will be formed through the economic citizenship programme, in which money will be allocated for the improvement of local infrastructure in less developed municipalities.

The meeting paid particular attention to investments in tourism. Both sides identified the need to increase the high-class hotel capacities. Furthermore, they discussed challenges the local administration faces and the ways to overcome them. 

President of the Municipality Nrekić said that in the next two years they expect an increase in investments and a more dynamic development of the municipality. 

Representatives the Government of Montenegro said that they would support the municipality of Ulcinj in all issues necessary for citizens, as well as in creating conditions for improving quality of life.

03 April 2019 - On the first day of his working visit to the United States, Foreign Affairs Minister Srđan Darmanović met with Acting Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs Philip Reeker. The meeting agreed that bilateral and allied cooperation within NATO is excellent, pointing out the importance of dynamic maintaining political contacts at a high level. Furthermore, the officials exchanged views about current events and in the Western Balkans, modalities for boosting mutual trust and future stability of regional opportunities.

Montenegrin Chief of Diplomacy had separate meetings with members of the House of Representatives and the Senate in Washington.

At a meeting with Chairman of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs of Representatives, Congressman Eliot Engel, Minister of Foreign Affairs Darmanović emphasised that regional cooperation is one of the foreign policy priorities and pointed to the numerous activities taken in the direction of its full affirmation. He highlighted that regional cooperation encourages and directs the dynamics of the EU path and represents a significant mechanism in resolving remaining open issues in the region.

Congressman Eliot congratulated Montenegro on the previous progress and very significant role to provide and further strengthen stability and security in the region.

Foreign Minister Darmanović also spoke with NATOˈs Assembly’s Defense Chairman and Security Committee and Vice-President Congressman Michael Turner. Regarding the progress of the North Macedonia in Euro - Atlantic integration and resolving decades of old name disputes, Congressman Turner emphasised that acquiring full membership of Montenegro paved the path for the enlargement of the Alliance. Minister Darmanović repeated that Montenegro as the newest member firmly advocates for open door policy and more significant presence of NATO in the region, especially in terms of strengthening stability and security and thereby improving conditions for further economic and overall development.

Meeting with Congressman Doug Lamborn praised constructive engagement, active role and commitment of Montenegro to Allied goals and activities and highlighted mutual interest for resuming substantive and intensive cooperation between the two countries. 

At the meeting with Senator Ron Johnson, Chairman of the Committee on Homeland Security and the Subcommittee on Europe in the US Senate, Minister Darmanović once again pointed to Montenegro’s commitment to building a more stable and more prosperous region. Senator Ron Johnson said that Montenegro has recognised the importance of fostering the Alliance's values, and that its role in the Western Balkans region was encouraging. He also reiterated the strong commitment of the United States to continuing with a strong presence in the Western Balkans.

04 April 2019 - At the session held on April 4, the Montenegrin Government passed the Decision on the issuance of state bonds that are due in 2024 and the Decision on issuing state bonds that are due in 2026, intending to secure funding of the 2019 budget.

"The first Decision is about 140 million EUR, 5 years of repayment and interest rate of 3%, while the second Decision is about 50 million EUR, 7-year repayment period and an interest rate of 3.5%," said Dragan Darmanović of the Ministry of Finance.

"Unlike in previous years, when the nominal value of the bond amounted to 10,000.00 EUR, the nominal value of this bond will be 1,000 euros, and we think that it will be more acceptable for citizens and that they will participate in larger numbers in the issuance of bonds," the Minister explained.

According to Darmanović, in this way the State will try to activate the domestic market and develop the local capital market and trade in bonds to improve this form of trade, providing funds for the 2019 budget. Minister also stressed that he expects that the Government will be able to create even better conditions for the country’s structural reforms and the competitiveness of Montenegrin economy.

03 April 2019 -Montenegro is due to sign the regional roaming agreement with the countries of the Western Balkans in Belgrade, on April 4, which stipulates that the roaming charges in the region will be considerably reduced. By July 1, 2021, the price of a call in the area should cost as much as the price of a local call.

Montenegrin Minister of Economy, Dragica Sekulić, which will sign this agreement on behalf of the country, explains that the agreement, concluded under the auspices of the Western Balkans Digital Agenda, makes it mandatory for the signees not to exceed the upper limit of retail and wholesale prices of roaming services.

As explained within the agreement on roaming charges, mobile telephony operators in the region should reduce the prices of roaming to enable consumers to use electronic communications services outside the reach of their network, without paying steep fees.

The Ministry of Economy announced that the agreement would be signed by the representatives of the Republic of Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, the Republic of Kosovo, the Republic of Northern Macedonia and the Republic of Serbia.

The Second Digital Summit will be opened by Serbian Prime Minister Ana Brnabić, European Commissioner for Digital Economy and Society, Mariya Gabriel, and Secretary General of the International Telecommunication Union, Houlin Zhao.

During the Digital Summit, Government of Montenegro and the Government of the Republic of Serbia will also sign an Agreement on Mutual Recognition of Electronic Identification and Authentication provided in Montenegro and Mutual Recognition of Qualified Trust Services provided in the Republic of Serbia.

This year’s summit will gather about 3,000 participants from 30 countries from Western Balkans, Europe, and the world.

03 April 2019 - The Government of Serbia has recently adopted the Decision on Introducing Scheduled Air Services declared to be of public interest, including the service Niš - Tivat – Niš, at the initiative of the southern and eastern Serbian district. The primary goal of this Decision is more efficient traffic connection with European cities, which is expected to result in faster economic development of the region.

The best bidder to carry out scheduled air services will be required to base an aircraft in Niš with the capacity to seat at least 125 passengers. The jet cannot be older than twenty years, and the operating carrier must also have another aircraft stationed in Serbia for back-up purposes. Under the tender conditions, a group of carriers may submit a joint bid. The deadline for the submission of bids has been set for May 6 at midday, so the carrier which will service the Niš – Tivat – Niš route will be announced after the bidding process.

As announced by the Ministry of Traffic, Construction, and Infrastructure of Serbia, the decision to introduce scheduled air services of public interest is in line with the Serbian regulations, harmonized with the regulations of the European Union.

As stated, the need for launching air services of public interest arises from the fact that there is no developed high-speed rail or road infrastructure as an alternative to linking this region to EU and the neighbouring countries with an average travel period of fewer than three hours.

The town of Niš is the administrative and regional centre of Southeast Serbia and the traffic hub which, in addition to being the intersection of the road and railroad Corridor 10, also has an international airport that accepted more than 350,000 passengers last year.

Air Service Niš – Tivat – Niš will be operated three times per week between May and October 2019.

02 April 2019 - Montenegrin Finance Minister Darko Radunović and analysts from Moody's Credit Agency, Heiko Peters and Hannah J.V. Dimpker, who currently reside in Podgorica for the regular annual visit of the Agency, held a formal meeting on April 2 to discuss economic, fiscal and financial conditions in Montenegro.

Minister Radunović informed the Moody’s analysts about the results in 2018 and emphasized that the beginning of 2019 already looks promising, considering that the figures for January and February show that budget revenues were 18.5% higher than in the same period last year and 6.3% higher when compared to the planned revenues for this period.

Also, the Finance Minister reminded the present parties that Montenegro is currently in its third year of fiscal consolidation and that the measures have already given significant results.

"2019 is an important year for Montenegro because of the work on structural reforms, but also because this year will show a downturn concerning public debt, "the Minister said and added that a healthy investment cycle in energy, tourism, transport, and infrastructure was launched in Montenegro.

Representatives of Moody's Credit Agency have met with representatives of the Ministry of Finance, the Central Bank of Montenegro, the banking sector and international organizations in a two-day visit to Montenegro to collect data based on which they will assess the credit rating of the state.

According to the assessment of the Agency, Montenegrin credit rating would likely be upgraded if there would be full or close to full implementation of the government's consolidations measures showing up in improving government's debt metrics placing the government's debt trajectory on a sustainable downward path in combination with Moody's heightened confidence that the highway-related fiscal risks are contained.

Also, a credit positive would be the completion of a majority of the EU's acquis communautaire, which would support progress towards EU accession. Equally, a reduction in contingent liabilities, stemming from a combination of materially lower government guarantees and lower risks posed by banks and SOEs, would also be credit positive.

02 April 2019 - Low-cost airline company Ryanair, based in Dublin, has launched scheduled flights from Bologna to Podgorica Airport starting April 1, 2019.

In February 2019, low-cost carrier Ryanair started looking into further expanding its operations in Montenegro. The airline's Route Development Manager, Gary Butler, met with the General Manager of Airports of Montenegro, Danilo Orlandić, to discuss growth potential. The budget airline has now introduced its sixth destination to Podgorica this summer season, with flights from Bologna launched on April 1.

As officially announced from Ryanair representatives, the company launched two weekly flights from Bologna to Podgorica, which will be maintained Monday and Friday with Boing 737-800 aircraft, which has a capacity of 189 seats.

Ryanair faces no direct competition on the route, with Alitalia and Montenegro Airlines maintaining services between Rome and Podgorica, while Wizz Air operates flights from Milan Malpensa to the Montenegrin capital.

Bologna will thus become the fifth Italian city which is directly connected with Montenegrin cities via Airports of Montenegro, and the route Bologna – Podgorica represents the sixth line to Montenegro held by Ryanair.

Speaking to EX-YU Aviation News, the airline said it expects to handle 175.000 passengers on its operations to and from the Montenegrin capital. "We look forward to carrying more than 175.000 annual customers through Podgorica airport this year. Ryanair offers six routes in total operating from Podgorica Airport. Customers can fly twice weekly from Podgorica to Stockholm Skavsta, Brussels Charleroi, London Stansted, Berlin Schonefeld, Bologna and Wroclaw".

The carrier launched services to the Montenegrin capital in the summer of 2013 following two years of negotiations with the government. On Thursday it handled its 500.000th passenger in Montenegro since it commenced operations to Podgorica. It has expanded its network from the city each year ever since. The company previously noted its Podgorica flights "continue to perform strongly."

02 April 2019 - Respect for human rights and freedoms was and remains the necessary condition and the driver of democratic, social and economic development of Montenegro, Deputy Prime Minister Zoran Pažin said at a meeting with OSCE Secretary-General Thomas Greminger. 

The Deputy Prime Minister pointed out that during 2019 Montenegro will remain focused primarily on fulfilling obligations arising from the EU accession process. "Our ambition is to open the remaining negotiating chapter on competitiveness as soon as possible, but also to finally get the opportunity to continue the process of the temporary closure of negotiations in certain chapters," he stressed. 

DPM Pažin emphasizes that Montenegro will have to adopt and implement key reform laws in the field of media, electoral and anti-discrimination legislation. In this context, he expressed the full readiness of the ruling majority to reach the best legal solutions through dialogue with opposition representatives in democratic institutions and provide even stronger protection of the rights and freedoms of Montenegrin citizens. 

Secretary-General Greminger said that the OSCE fully supports the efforts to hold a political dialogue on key reform processes in the Parliament of Montenegro. He assessed that Montenegro is a reliable and committed partner of the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe, and expressed organisation's readiness to continue to work with Montenegrin institutions in critical areas such as the rule of law, media reform, cybersecurity and the electoral legislation reform. 

Speaking about the reform of the electoral legislation, the Deputy Prime Minister stressed that the Government strongly advocates the acceptance of all recommendations of the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR), adding that all recommendations that needed a simple majority in the Parliament were already accepted. Furthermore, he noted that there is full readiness of the parliamentary majority to approve the remaining recommendations that require a qualified majority in the Parliament of Montenegro through the open dialogue with the opposition. 

Deputy Prime Minister Pažin pointed out that free, independent and pluralistic media represent a necessary precondition for the development of every democratic society, and that states have the primary responsibility to ensure respect for and protection of the freedom of speech and freedom of the media. He thanked the OSCE for its expert support during the drafting of media laws, assessing that those are regulations that are of great importance for further democratic development and the overall progress of Montenegrin society. 

In this context, he expressed the expectation that all political actors will recognise their responsibility and give a full contribution that these and other important legal solutions, which directly affect the exercise of the rights and freedoms of Montenegrin citizens, will be discussed in detail and adopted in the Parliament.

02 April 2019 - Montenegro is significantly ahead of other countries that aspire to become EU member states, it was estimated during the visit of Montenegrin delegation to Berlin, and noted that the continuation of high-quality implementation of reforms, with the support of European partners, especially Germany, would lead to further progress in the field rule of law. 

Montenegrin delegation, led by Chief Negotiator Aleksandar Drljević, was consisted of Negotiator for chapters 23 and 24 Marijana Laković, Chief Prosecutor Milivoje Katnić, Assistant Director of the Agency for the Prevention of Corruption Savo Milašinović, and Assistant Director of the Police Directorate for Criminal Police Sector Enis Baković. During their visit to Berlin, they presented the latest results in the fight against corruption and organized crime, which show that Montenegro is ready for the new phase of the negotiation process. 

Delegation members held meetings with Head of the Division for Foreign Policy, Security Policy and Global Issues in the Office of the Federal Chancellor, Head of the Division for Serious and Organized Crime at the Federal Ministry of the Interior Joachim Bertele, Advisor of Chancellor on European Affairs Franz Neueder, Head of the Division on Serious and Organized Crime at the Federal Ministry of the Interior Sven Berger, as well as Special Representative for Southeastern Europe, Turkey and the EFTA countries at the Federal Ministry of Foreign Affairs Christian Helbach. They also spoke with Head of the Division for Human Rights, International Law, and Principles of the EU Almut Wittling-Vogel and Deputy Head of the Division for Europe at the Federal Ministry of Foreign Affairs Thomas Osowski. 

State authorities show determination to direct all available resources to achieve convincing results in areas of importance. We expect all EU members to recognise the latest results of the Special State Prosecutor's Office, the Police Directorate and the Agency for the Prevention of Corruption in the field of combating corruption and organized crime, and that we will soon receive a Report on the fulfillment of interim benchmarks in chapters 23 and 24 and then the final benchmarks, representatives of Montenegrin delegation said. 

It was noted that Montenegro had made significant progress in the fight against organized crime, especially highlighting the results achieved in cooperation with the EU and regional countries, as well as the international cooperation of Montenegrin police with EUROPOL and INTERPOL. 

Both sides assessed that significant progress was made in the area of the rule of law, and that additional efforts should be invested in areas where progress has not been sufficiently achieved, to achieve EU standards and a better quality of life.