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Credit Support to Montenegro
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$215
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WASHINGTON, January 31, 2011 - The World Bank Board of Directors approved a new Country Partnership Strategy (CPS) for Montenegro, providing the framework for the World Bank’s assistance to Montenegro during the period 2011–14. The CPS reflects both Montenegro’s status as an upper middle income country with well-defined development priorities and its overarching policy objective of advancing the process of integration into the European Union (EU). The CPS proposes a lending program of US$215.7 million that aims at supporting Montenegro to address two of its main policy priorities: to strengthen institutions and competitiveness in line with EU accession requirements and improve environmental management, including reducing the costs of environmental problems.
Presentation About the EU Legal Framework As part of the joint project “Strengthening the regulatory and supervisory capacity of financial regulation”, under the IPA program funded by the European Union, a workshop “Preventing money laundering and the financing of terrorism – legal framework and best practice” was organized from 22nd to 25th November 2010. The main purpose of the workshop was to address both the EU and international standards regarding AML/CFT, to examine AML/CFT requirements concerning Montenegrin Law and to discuss, with Montenegrin banks, the practical approaches that could be taken to prevent and detect ML/TF activities in order to ensure a deeper knowledge of how to prevent any potential occurrences. The workshop is just one part of the Montenegrin authorities’ efforts to publicly fight against money laundering.
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Business News The Composition of New Government On Wednesday, 29th of December, 2010 Montenegrin Parlament elected a new government leaded by former Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance Mr. Igor Lukšić. The new Government will continue to implement the priorities of the former cabinet. Out of 73 members of the Parliament, 46 voted for the New Government’s program and composition, 25 voted against, while two members declared abstant. In newly formed cabinet Mr. Lukšić chose five new members. The Deputy Prime Minister and the Minister of Justice is Mr. Duško Marković, former Chief of Secret Police and by the end of July 2010, Minister Without Portfolio. Ministry of Finance is now headed by former Mr. Lukšić’s Assistant, Mr. Milorad Katnić, while Mr. Vladimir Kavarić was elected Minister of Economy. The new Minister of Sustainable Development and Tourism is Mr. Predrag Sekulić, Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development is Mr. Tarzan Milošević, while Minister of Science is Mrs. Sanja Vlahovic.
Turks Interested in Željezara Nikšić The news that the Turkish company CVS Makina, the new supplier of equipment for Željezara Nikčić, is interested in increasing the production in Željezara. But the news was not received well by workers or the management. The Turkish company stated that it had no intention of merging Željezara with CVS, even though it would own a small package of shares for Željezara. The director of CVS stated that a contract had been signed with Željezara in 2009.
Tourism Less Affected by the Crisis A great number of countries in Europe recorded positive results in tourism, especially during the period from May to August 2010. A growth rate of 4 percent was recorded in western, central and eastern Europe, of 2 percent in southern and Mediterranean Europe, while northern Europe was the only region to experience a drop – of 3 percent. Positive indicators were also recorded in Montenegro. A considerable increase in the number of foreign tourists was recorded for the first eight, i.e. nine months of 2010, compared with the same period in 2009. The growth of the number of foreign guests amounted to 3.9 percent, i.e. 4.6 percent. They represented 86.7 percent of the total number of arrivals.
More SMEs will be Opened in Montenegro by 2015 The World Bank Board of Directors today approved a new Country Partnership Strategy (CPS) for Montenegro, providing the framework for the World Bank’s assistance to Montenegro during the period 2011–14. The CPS reflects both Montenegro’s status as an upper middle income country with well-defined development priorities and its overarching policy objective of advancing the process of integration into the European Union (EU). The CPS proposes a lending program of US$215.7 million that aims at supporting Montenegro to address two of its main policy priorities: to strengthen institutions and competitiveness in line with EU accession requirements and improve environmental management, including reducing the costs of environmental problems.