Djukanovic said that the interest of foreign investors in Montenegro was satisfying, which is evidence of their confidence. In the future, Montenegro has to work on diversification of the structure of foreign direct investment, the PM said.
At the same time, he added that in the coming period we need investments that encourage innovation and stimulate industry development, thus expanding the export base of Montenegro.
Djukanovic called in mind the key government’s activities on improving the business environment. He said that incentives for investments in agriculture, tourism and energy were introduced, as well the €10,000 subsidies per job for the projects worth above €500,000. He also said that there was a continuous reduction of the crisis tax and that it was planned to be returned to 9% level in 2017.
Also, the government continues to implement programmes to support the development of small and medium-sized enterprises, particularly through the activities of the Investment and Development Fund (IRF). The PM announced the reduction of fiscal charges in the future.
The US ambassador Margaret Ann Uyehara noted that Montenegro and the United States had common goals.
“One of them is to strengthen commercial partnership and economic cooperation between the two countries”, the ambassador said.
She said that adequate treatment of existing investors in Montenegro was very important, having in mind that companies were unable to implement their projects due to various factors, starting with not issuing licenses and ending with incorrect application of the law.
“I call on the government to remove obstacles and delays, in order to help investors to enter the next phase of the project implementation”, the ambassador said.
According to Katarina Bulatovic, the chairwoman of the AmCham Board of Directors, the members of the chamber believe that it is not good to attract investors to invest their capital and know-how, and in the meantime to change the rules of the game.
“Only through positive and successful examples of investments we can influence other investors to choose exactly Montenegro for Implementation of their projects. We think that additional efforts should be made to implement existing investments more quickly and efficiently”, Bulatovic said.
She underscored the active participation of AmCham in making proposals for eliminating business barriers and creating favourable conditions for business.
“At AmCham, we strive to identify which areas or legal frameworks are challenging in the business of our members and to give appropriate proposals for the removal of business barriers that correspond to international practice. We believe that this is an important contribution of the American Chamber of Commerce and suggest the government consult business associations in the process of drafting new or amending the current regulations. Therefore, our goal is to act preventively, rather than to retroactively make comments or suggestions on adopted legal solutions”, Bulatovic said.
The business lunch of the American Chamber of Commerce was attended by more than 100 members, representatives of state administration and local governments, representatives of diplomatic corps, international organisations and entrepreneurs.
