INTERVIEW
Cooperating With Government To Find
THE BEST ANSWERS TO CHALLENGES NINA DRAKIĆ PH.D., PRESIDENT OF THE CHAMBER OF ECONOMY OF MONTENEGRO
The key issues for maintaining macroeconomic stability at this juncture are inflation and the stability of public finances. Apart from that, the pandemic highlighted the problem – first identified many years earlier – of the unfavourable structure of the Montenegrin economy, forcing the country to consider diversifying the economy
D
r Nina Drakić, President of the Chamber of Economy of Montenegro, took on this position at a moment when global trends are very unfavourable to the economies of the countries of the region. Inflation and public finance stability, transitioning to a circular economy and digitalisation represent some of the most important topics that are being dealt with by the Chamber in an attempt to enable its members to gain appropriate working conditions and to convey to the Government the most important economic proposals for creating a favourable business climate.
■ How can the Chamber help businesspeople overcome these challenges?
- The challenges faced by the world’s population and economy over the past two years have undoubtedly led to change in models of behaviour and doing business. The abil36 | MONTENEGRO BUSINESS SECTOR 2022
ity to adapt to the new circumstances has been largely dependent on the state of the economies of each individual country during the pre-crisis period. One could say that, with us in the Western Balkans, apart from labour market disturbances and disruptions to flows of goods and services, we’ve also seen a slowdown in the dynamics of the European integration process. The Montenegrin business community displayed a certain degree of resilience and a high degree of social responsibility. Many managed to survive with the support of the Chamber, as their association engaged on working bodies tasked with shaping government measures to support the economy. As an association that’s been uniting the national economy for almost a century, the Chamber has a set of defined services that help our members raise their level of competitiveness. The Chamber and the executive
government are also natural partners, and through this framework – with the suggestions and proposals of our membership base – we work on the creating of a predictable and favourable environment for investing and doing business. Support in the digital transformation process, along with the implementation of educational activities that enable our members and their employees to harmonise their knowhow and competencies with new business trends, are part of our daily work. The members of the Chamber recognise the particular importance of activities directed towards the promoting of domestic products, with the aim of reducing the country’s dependence on imports and increasing sales of high-quality goods, primarily agricultural goods, via the tourist offer. In addition to the aforementioned, the Chamber devotes great attention to the internationalisation of the
