American Chamber of Commerce in Montenegro (AmCham Montenegro) hosted Gala dinner with Dragica Sekulić, Minister of Economy, Darko Radunović, Minister of Finance, dr Kenan Hrapović, Minister of Health and Kemal Purišić, Minister of Labor and Social Welfare in honor of its program Partnership for Better Business Environment. During this event, the outcomes of the Program were presented. The most notable representatives of public administration, Mr. Goran Nikolić, Director-General of Directorate for Industry and Entrepreneurship, and Mr. Nikola Antović, State Secretary in the Ministry of Health, have received recognition awards from American Chamber of Commerce, for their exceptional contribution towards the development of the program Partnership for Better Business Environment.

Partnership for Better Business Environment is a collaboration between AmCham Montenegro and four ministries in the Government of Montenegro ( Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Economy, Ministry of Health and Ministry of Labor and Social Welfare ) which was launched in April 2017. The aim of the Program is to raise mutual understanding between private and public sector in Montenegro in order to eliminate existing business barriers efficiently as well as to provide quality legal acts and better implementation of legal norms by both public administration and the private sector.

The Gala dinner consisted of a panel discussion with the ministers who spoke about advantages and disadvantages of this collaboration as well as about other topics of significance for the business community.

The President of American Chamber of Commerce, Ms. Bulatović, outlined that the fighting against grey economy will be a priority for the Chamber in the upcoming year. Having in mind that some norms of the Draft of Labor Law can still be considered as significant business barriers, she noted that continued improvement of labor legislation is needed in order to achieve an incentive business environment. Bulatović announced the active participation of AmCham member companies in the drafting of Public Procurement Law, due to its significance for AmCham members.

The representative of the U.S. Embassy, Chargé d’affaires a.i. Ms. Judy Kuo, has expressed her support for collaboration between the Government, private sector, and AmCham, because of such relations, according to her, are of vital significance for the creation of transparent and equal conditions for businesses so that all companies in Montenegro can succeed.

Ministers, as panel discussion participants, praised the initial results of the collaboration between the business community and public administration within the platform Partnership for Better Business Environment and noted that that such cooperation can serve as an example for other associations and businesses to  participate in the drafting of legislation which is significant for business society.

During the first year of the Program, Amcham, within its Committees, has actively participated in the drafting of Corporate Law, Labor Law, Law on Medicines, as well as other legal acts. It must be noted that a significant amount of comments given by AmCham business society have been adopted. AmCham will continue to contribute towards the improvement of legislation, in order to eliminate business barriers, attract new investors and keep the existing ones.

AmCham Executive Director, Dr Marko Miročević, said that AmCham has its representative in the Competitiveness Council, as well as in the working group for the new Public Procurement Law which represents significant market. Therefore, the timely involvement of the business community in the process of legislative regulation of this field is of great importance for AmCham business community.

AmCham Grey economy Committee and Tax Committee are available to Ministry of Finance and Tax Administration to participate in the drafting of bylaw which will regulate the works of Central Registry of Business Entities, noted Miročević and invited other relevant ministries to participate in the Program Partnership for Better Business Environment in order to work together on the improvement of business environment in Montenegro.

Ministers emphasized the significance of fighting against the grey economy and announced stricter measures in the upcoming year, each in their own ministry.