Prevailing issues of the Round Table were the System Institutions stronger support to the processes of business running, developing and sustainability in the following period and the expectations regarding better administration efficiency, elimination of business barriers and business background enhancement. The meeting that was held in hotel Apart Premier in Podgorica opened by the Head of the MEF Predrag Mitrovic, Deputy Minister for Economic Policy and Development in the Ministry of Finance Iva Vuković and the Tax Administration Deputy Director Novo Radovic.
As it assessed at the meeting the official statistics data give the clear picture of the very difficult economic situation in the country, where the state of the Economy is reflected through unresolved relations between a debtor and creditor, insolvency of the large number of enterprises, frozen accounts and the business financing problems.
Accordingly, two-language based MEF Report titled ’Creating the ambience for the sustainable development of Enterprises in Montenegro’ was presented by the MEF Secretary General Suzana Radulović and the Project Manager of the MEF Mirza Mulešković. The Report on 17 conditions relevant for improving the enterprises sustainability was created in support of the International Labour Organization (ILO) and its EESE Methodology. The data that makes this Report different from the similar ones is in its emerging in the form of a sublimate of the numerous Focus Groups and in comprehensive research conducted among more than 200 enterprises operating in Montenegro (Enterprises of all size, from all three regions) as well as the economic analyses published by the National and World Organizations and the Institutions. The situation of Montenegro’s Economy is reviewed within the Report, all the problems the business entities faced in their performance recorded (at the national and local level) and the recommendation offered for its elimination. It was pointed out that the above Report served as the starting point for drafting the strategic document of the MEF ’five business killers’ issued on October 2013, wherein the key barriers to the business development in Montenegro are as follows:
- Inadequate Regulatory Framework
- Difficulty to the Financial Funds Access
- The presence of a large Underground Economy
- Corruption at all levels of society
- Discrepancy between the Educational System and the real needs at the Labour Market.
The Report titled ’Creating the ambience for the sustainable development of Enterprises in Montenegro’ and the document ’five business killers’ are available at the webpage www.poslodavci.org.
The Head of the Public Procurement Administration DSc Mersad Mujević gave the speech on the ethical dimensions of the Public Procurement System, the System of Anti-Corruption measures the Administration undertakes with the aim of its reduction and on improved Management of the Public Procurement System. The Head Mujević also mentioned the research conducted by MOR i.e. EESE methodology, in terms of the choice of methodology for the preparation of this report and on rather flat rate data of its content in the part relating the Public Procurement; He expressed a serious remark due to lack of the contact with the Institutions responsible for the Public Procurement Management, and he is convinced that these data wouldn’t be recorded in this research.
Since last few years our System was frequently ‘monitored’ with the various respectable international institutions the consensus clearly indicates that good and the EU practice based System in no way represents the business barrier.
Having expressed his gratitude for the invitation, the Director Mujević informed the members of the MEF of some solutions considering the Amendments to the Law on Public Procurement working on it together with the EU Representatives.
The Participants in the meeting were Representatives of The Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Labour and Social Welfare, Public Procurement Administration, Agency for Development of Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs), Tax Administration, Confederation of Trade Unions of Montenegro (CTUM), Union of Free Trade Unions of Montenegro, American Chambers of Commerce, National Tourism Organization of Montenegro, Business Women Association of Montenegro, Center for Vocational Education of Montenegro, University of Montenegro and the University Mediterranean in Podgorica, and Montenegrin businessmen and entrepreneurs.
PR SERVICE – THE PUBLIC PROCUREMENT ADMINISTRATION
