The American Chamber of Commerce in Montenegro (AmCham) organized the conference “Openly with the Prime Minister”, with the Prime Minister of Montenegro, H.E. Dusko Markovic, as the honorary guest. AmCham had the pleasure to host numerous representatives of the private sector, Government and diplomatic corps.

The focus of the conference was the presentation of the “2016 Business Climate Report” (BCR), the publication that identifies the challenges that the AmCham member companies encounter while doing business in Montenegro. AmCham BCR 2016, is the fourth report of this kind that the American Chamber of Commerce prepared since it was founded in 2008.

AmCham BCR is the most important document for the period of two years in the field of advocating the interests of member companies. Through the Report, AmCham member companies have assessed the conditions for doing business in the following areas: rule of law, human resources, taxation, construction and real estate, healthcare, infrastructure and other important conditions for business. The pros and cons of business environment have been identified, as well as the future priorities of the Government of Montenegro.

The conclusions and recommendations of the Chamber were presented by AmCham President, Ms. Katarina Bulatovic. “A key prerequisite for improving the business environment is intensive cooperation and timely consultation of decision makers with the business community in Montenegro,” said Ms. Bulatovic, and pointed to this issue as the main conclusion of AmCham 2016 BCR.

In addition to that, it is easy to notice many possibilities for improving the business conditions. Namely, in the rule of law, the equal implementation of the law and the level playing field for market participants; in the field of human resources, the necessary changes to the legislative framework in the field of labor, and it is shown that the taxation must be made more transparent and more predictable. In the construction and real estate sector it is urged to increase the efficiency of the administration that is in charge of supporting tourism projects, also in the field of health it has been recommended to improve transparency in the decision-making process regarding pharmaceutical policies. In the segment of infrastructure, the need for quality regulation of the treatment of waste water and solid waste was recognized.

In the interview held between the Prime Minister of Montenegro, H.E. Duško Marković and AmCham President Ms. Katarina Bulatović, many questions were raised regarding future plans of the Government of Montenegro. Prime Minister requested a more intensive cooperation between the Government and member companies of AmCham Montenegro: “We want direct communication which will elevate our partnership to a higher level. I invite you to delegate representatives who will cooperate with the Government of Montenegro on drafting of the legislation.” He added: “In this manner, we will create a synergy of knowledge and experience which will enable our common progress.”

Guests were also addressed by the Honorary President of AmCham, H.E. Margaret Ann Uyehara, US Ambassador to Montenegro. “The United States shares many goals with Montenegro, one of which is to strengthen our commercial partnership and to increase economic cooperation between our two countries.  To meet this goal we rely on the American Chamber of Commerce, whose robust membership actively tracks the business climate through its biennial surveys and other collaborative activities.”