Prime Minister Dusko Markovic said the entire region of the Western Balkans is “historically lagging behind the developed world, primarily Europe”, but that Montenegro is “globally recognized as an investment destination”. He recalled that Montenegro has so far opened 30 chapters for the EU accession, temporarily closed three of them, and is needing to open three more to end the accession negotiations, which will hopefully happen by next year, during the Bulgarian and Austrian presidency of the EU.
“I am convinced that in three to four years, Montenegro will end the negotiation process, start formalizing its membership in the EU, and finish this process by 2025.. I want to assure you that European integration is going well, that EU enlargement policy is not just for membership, but perhaps more importantly for security and stability, which is very important for a quality business environment”, Prime Minister Markovic said this evening, opening the business forum “European Integration of the Western Balkans, Impact on the Economy and Business Development” organised in Tivat.
In his view, 2017 was very successful for Montenegro at the macroeconomic level and level of fiscal policies, and that the economy’s growth which was initially projected at 2.7 percent ended up 4.4 percent at the end of the year.
“This is one of the highest growth rates in Europe; at this rate, which was also present in the previous years, our economy doubles faster than the EU economy. Of course, we do not let ourselves get carried away by these facts. We know we must work much harder to achieve the results we desire for our country”, Prime Minister Markovic pointed out, Radio Tivat reports.
He announced a new investment momentum in the energy sector, and said that this will not only mean investments in small hydropower plants and wind power plants, “but also in solar energy and new hydroelectric plants, probably at Morača and Komarnica”.
