The Montenegrin Foreign Investors Council and the Chamber of Commerce will intensify their cooperation to use their synergy to improve business environment in Montenegro, it was announced at the meeting between the presidents of those institutions held on 14 th March 2018.
It was concluded that the Council and the Chamber share the perception of country’s economic development and it is necessary to coordinate joint activities and initiatives towards decision makers to impact business climate improvement.
The meeting was attended by the President of the MFIC Christoph Schoen (CEO of Addiko banka), President of the Chamber Vlastimir Golubović, members of the Board of Directors of the Council Nikola Ljushev (CEO of Crnogorski Telekom) and Pal Kovacs (CEO of CKB), the MFIC Executive Officer Marija Šuković, Vice-President and Secretary General of the Chamber Ivan Saveljić and Pavle D. Radovanović and Advisor to the President of the Chamber Tanja Radusinović.
The MFIC President Christoph Schoen said that the Council gathers 35 companies that have a significant influence to the Montenegrin economy. He estimated that the Council shares many focal points with the Chamber but a greater coordination is needed so that the two institutions can increase their impact on the country’s economic development. The topics to be focused on are education, digitalization and labour market flexibility, what would strengthen the competitiveness of the Montenegrin economy. He emphasizes that new investments, especially foreign ones, are necessary for further economic development. The perception of foreign investors regarding future development of the Montenegrin business environment will be presented on 28 th March within the promotion of the White Book.
The President of the Chamber Golubović presented the organization of the oldest business association that gathers all the companies in the country, including the MFIC members, what speaks enough about its influence and responsibility to advocate those companies before the decision makers. He particularly pointed out that the new Law on the Chamber of Commerce was passed to reinforce and institutionalize the partnership between the Chamber and the Government and other public bodies. From this point of view, on behalf of the entire economy, the Chamber wants to impact legislation drafting tailored for business community, and the special focus was made to the need of improving legal solutions dealing with public procurement, companies and labour. The President Golubović invited the Council to use the capacities and technical support of this association which fosters excellent relations with the regional and European chambers.
The participants agreed that it is necessary to keep the continuity of close cooperation of the two associations. As one of the segments of joint action, it was proposed to prepare the fiscal analysis in order to present to the Government the possibilities to expand the tax base to reduce informal economy and eventually reduce taxes and contributions that burden business operations.