August 2011
MBO: Can you tell us about some of your success stories over the last decade? MBA was very active during the last decade in legal matters, and worked on more than 100 different laws, on numerous regulations, local decrees etc. Our work was primarily in the area of business legislation and concerned regulations that have a direct impact on company performance. Among some of the different things that MBA did as a pioneer in this field, one of the most important was to influence a decrease in taxes and contributions on wages in 20034. I can say that the first cuts on taxes and contributions were, in the main, due to direct pressure from MBA. Also, MBA influenced the first significant cuts in corporate tax, personal income tax and taxes at a local level. Later on, different organizations took much of the credit for work done by MBA, but what satisfies us the most is that the ideas that were put forward and implemented by MBA almost a decade ago, are now being taken up by others. That strengthens us to continue developing our activities over the next decade. An important part of our work relates to developing the conditions for building micro hydropower plants in Montenegro. Since the activities carried out by MBA have resulted in the building of one small hydropower plant, we can be satisfied that, in cooperation with the government and local municipalities, we have successfully removed existing barriers have opened up a clear path for potential investors in that field.
MBO: Do you publish your activities? Publishing is one of the keystones of our activities. From the very beginning we were aware that without publishing our work, everything would be forgotten. Since our organization is not specific to any single project or specific time frame, we have made additional efforts to create a variety of publications in which to present our work. We were also pioneers in that area. We were the first organization to publish an annual report together with a financial report, and our activities were regularly published in quarterly editions of the Business Insider. We presented our legal work in a very carefully prepared publication called the Business Agenda. MBA published its first Business Agenda in 2003 and we were happy that some parts of it were later incorporated in the government agenda. We continued to publish our agenda and thus presented our future legal aims. We also, simultaneously, highlighted problems that needed to be solved in the economy through close cooperation between the business sector and the government. We also publish an annual publication for our members that includes contact information and collates all the necessary information regarding different institutions in Montenegro. MBA is the first and only organization in Montenegro that publishes an annual directory of its members. This is called the MBA Business Directory. This year, MBA published its eighth edition of the Directory which included more than 230 members. The Directory serves as a promotional tool as some of the best Montenegrin companies are represented in it.
MBO: Is there enough cooperation between similar organizations? There is enough work for every organization present in Montenegro for sure! Cooperation from institutions that support the private sector in Montenegro exists, but this can always be improved. MBA is open to cooperation and will do whatever it can to establish partnerships to improve business conditions
in Montenegro. We also have an excellent level of cooperation with other similar organizations in the region. We are working on different issues with them but I think that the most valuable thing for our members has been the organization of business to business meetings (B2B). Since 2001, MBA has organized more than 20 of these meetings with different companies in the region and I can say that our members have been extremely satisfied with this service. MBA is also internationally recognized through the awards it has received for its work. MBA was a winner in the category entitled Market Solutions to Poverty, in a competition held by the US Atlas Foundation. The award was given for MBA’s initiative, ‘10% for Montenegro’, which aimed to reduce all taxes in Montenegro by 10%. The award was gained in an international competition with more than 200 competitors. The American Society of Association Executives (ASAE), within its program ‘Associations Make a Better World’, declared that MBA was the overall winner of the Business Agenda Award in 2004.
MBO: What is the relationship of your organization with the government? When we started our work, the government was fairly reluctant to accept that the business sector should have input in the decision making process. Consequently, it took us a long time and a lot of effort to convince the government that business participation is necessary in order to create better laws. In this way, regulations should be good as they have been practically tried and tested. Currently we are quite satisfied with the situation regarding business participation in this process. Primarily, through the work of the Council for Regulatory Reform, representatives from the private sector can put forward their problems/solutions to be addressed by different ministries. What we are not completely satisfied with is the speed of the reforms, the amount ofl bureaucracy and the priorities that have been established. We do agree that European integration is a key success factor but we do not want to forget important work that is necessary for the business environment and work regarding the removal of existing barriers. MBA will always criticize the government, but will also offer solutions to problems that are faced by the private sector as we see public private partnership as a key solution to existing problems.
Montenegro Business Alliance, 81 000 Podgorica Kralja Nikole 27a/4, Poslovni centar “Čelebić“, Sahat kula Tel/fax: 020 622 728; 622 738 E-mail: mbapg@t-com.me Montenegro Business Alliance, 85330 Kotor Stari grad 372 Tel/fax: 032 323 823; 304 208 E-mail: mbako@t-com.me
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