By Christoph Schoen, president of Board of Directors of Foreign Investors Council
Stability, security, defined rules, predictability – in economy, in politics, in safety – those are the most attractive keywords for serious investors, both local and foreign. At first glace, economic parameters seem like the most important when choosing an investment destination, but what is often left out is how important safety and security factors are.
As a President of the Board of Foreign Investors Council I can say that we believe Montenegro is a good choice as an investment destination, precisely when keeping in mind its progress towards EU and NATO, which we hope will ensure long-term stability and safety, and many economic benefits as well as positive influence on business environment. On the other hand, membership in NATO will further strengthen our opinion, while alternative scenarios could make business community fear and chose different countries.
NATO membership will not solve some of the very serious issues “overnight”, or that Montenegro will experience bliss after membership. There is so much space for improvement of business environment and a few hot topics that require rapid resolutions, but I truly believe that NATO membership can only help Montenegro respect international standards of business. Experiences of other countries that showed correlation between NATO membership and foreign investments only serves as further proof of this.
Integration benefits and their visibility to the citizens depend on country’s capacity to accept, change and use the possibilities that will become open. There is an important segment NATO offers to all its members, and that pertains to participation on tenders for producing certain products for their needs, tourist capacities, etc, but I am not sure if Montenegrin commerce is capable to rise to the occasion and join these tenders. Education of businessmen will be of great importance.
Although I come from Austria, a very regulated and successful country that is not a member of NATO, I believe that in the case of Montenegro, a country that is still not in EU and that cannot have the privilege of “neutrality”, NATO membership is of particular importance.
