Montenegro

Director of the Regional Bureau for Europe and CIS Kori Udovički in Montenegro

12 – 14 October 2009

The visit of Ms. Kori Udovički, Assistant Secretary-General, Assistant Administrator of UNDP and Director of the Regional Bureau for Europe and Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), to Montenegro reconfirmed a high level of cooperation between UN and specifically UNDP and the Government of Montenegro, which had been very positively assessed during the Prime Minister meeting with the UN Secretary General and the Administrator on 24 September during the 64th UNGA session.

During a two days visit to Montenegro Ms. Udovički met with colleagues at the UNDP Country Office and she had a number of official meetings, with President of Montenegro; the Speaker of the Parliament; Ministers of Foreign Affairs, European integration, Economy, Tourism, Spatial Planning and Environmental Protection, Labour and Social Welfare; Vice-President of the Government for international economic cooperation, structural reform and enhancing the business environment and Minister of Finance; and Vice-President of the Government for economic policies and financial system and Minister for information society. All the meetings were also attended by Mr. Alexander Avanesov, UN Resident Coordinator and UNDP Resident Representative to Montenegro and Mr. Francisco Roquette, UNDP Deputy Resident Representative to Montenegro.

H. E. President Filip Vujanović, President of Montenegro pointed out the importance of the presentation of the first National Human Development Report (NHDR) 2009 – Montenegro: Society for all – prepared by the UNDP on social exclusion and vulnerable groups. He stressed that the Report presented a contribution to the efforts that the state of Montenegro and the whole society are making in the field of social policy. Ms. Udovički emphasized that Montenegro is on the right road to the overall society development and that UNDP would remain a partner to Montenegro in strategic economic projects.

H. E. Mr. Ranko Krivokapić, President of the Parliament of Montenegro estimated that the role of UNDP in the previous period was very important, and he thanked for the programs for support to the Montenegrin institutions with regard to the European integration, economic development, fight against poverty, fight against corruption, environmental protection and other areas. He emphasized that the Parliament faced numerous challenges on the path toward European integration and he expressed conviction that UNDP will, as it has been so far, remain a reliable partner in a number of areas of the state interest. Ms. Udovički pointed out strategic goals for the next year and she underlined strengthening of capacities of the state institutions, as well as projects at the local level. It was jointly assessed that it was necessary to enhance the model of UNDP’s support, especially when it comes to the realization of projects such as the Cetinje Parliamentary Forum. It was also estimated that the most suitable solution would be establishing of cooperation through training programs for the Parliament staff.

Minister of Foreign Affairs of Montenegro H. E. Mr. Milan Roćen and Ms. Kori Udovički expressed satisfaction with development of mutual cooperation, and the two sides estimated that the recent meetins of Prime Minister Milo Đukanović with UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and UNDP Administrator Helen Clark represent a strong impulse for its further strengthening. Ms. Udovički lauded the impressive development of Montenegro, she emphasized the importance of diversified and comprehensive program of cooperation of institutions in charge and UNDP, and she concluded that support to Montenegro on its European path is in the core of UNDP’s priorities. Minister Roćen agreed that the programs of cooperation and activities of UNDP in Montenegro directly correspond with major priorities regarding internal development of Montenegro, as well as with foreign policy strategies.

“Of all authorities in the region the Government of Montenegro reacted to the crisis in the swiftest way. This has already been talked about in the European circles, and it gives results in the form of increased investments in Montenegro,” said Ms. Kori Udovički in a meeting with Ministers of economy, tourism, spatial planning and environmental protection, labour and social welfare - Branko Vujović, Predrag Nenezić, Branimir Gvozdenović and Suad Numanović.

“Cooperation between the Government of Montenegro and UNDP is very intensive, and it is taking place in all areas where there is common interest for mutual relations,” said H. E. Mr. Branimir Gvozdenović, Minister of Spatial Planning and Environmental Protection. He also pointed out that it was of key importance the fact that global cooperation led to specific results. “It is especially important that the awareness of climate changes is changing. One of the results is the Conference on Climate Change and Sustainable Development in the South-East Europe and countries of the Mediterranean region which will be held between 16 – 17 October 2009 in Bečići, and is the first of its kind conference in the region,” Minister Gvozdenović underlined.    

When presenting the projects with UNDP’s contribution, Minister Gvozdenović also pointed out the segment related to spatial planning. He especially underlined preparation of the oncoming round table on the implementation of the Law on Spatial Planning being developed jointly with UNDP. Coordination by UNDP is also expected in a new project for protection of national parks, in promotion of the project for transformation of informal settlements into formal ones - so called legalization of settlements - and many other projects that are either in the pipeline or are already underway. 

Minister of Economy, H. E. Mr. Branko Vujović thinks that the biggest UNDP’s contribution is creation of a strategy for development of the North of Montenegro, as well as preparation for the implementation of procedures for ten small hydro power plants through expert assistance and support in selection of investors. Current cooperation in the field of small and medium enterprises is also important and, with the support of the Fund for Development, special attention is given to the North of Montenegro. Ministar Vujović also pointed out that preparation of a strategy for regional development of Montenegro is underway, and that strategy, as it was agreed by all participants in the meeting, could serve as an integration framework for all the four sectors and the projects within.

Minister of Tourism, H. E. Mr. Predrag Nenezić also expressed satisfaction with cooperation with UNDP, and he pointed out that donor coordination is most important of all. In this way UNDP will circle its part of the work while the Government will be determining priorities. A donor coordination meeting that should be held at the end of the month should significantly contribute to this, and then also priorities will be determined as well as the ways to achieve them, Minister Nenezić stressed out.

Minister of labour and social welfare, H. E. Mr. Suad Numanović thanked representatives of UNDP for intensive cooperation on a number of projects, among which the most important ones were the Strategy for poverty reduction and the Strategy for Improvement of Social Inclusion of Roma. He also thanked UNDP for the assistance provided in the implementation of those projects. In the next period a joint work is planned on the reform of systems of children and social protection.

Minister Numanović pointed out that participation of UNDP would be useful in relation to the refugees and displaced persons currently residing in Montenegro. In that regard, support in activating the Sarajevo Declaration and fulfilling obligations of all the signatory countries is very important. Minister Numanović reminded that Montenegro fulfilled all the related obligations and taking care of refugees and their repatriation was enabled. Ms. Udovički agreed and she pointed out that that was a hard work, but that it would not be abandoned. “UNDP is very devoted to creating conditions for assisting displaced persons in their return to the homeland, and Montenegro can expect support in that regard,” she said.

In conclusion, Ms. Udovički estimated the project of Montenegro as ecological state as visionary, and she said that it would  in the first place help in development of tourism. Investing in Montenegro, according to her, will have even greater social stability as a result. In all of those areas, as it was jointly concluded, there is very intensive cooperation, with a perspective for stronger and closer relations.
H. E. Mr. Ivan Brajović, Minister of Internal Affairs and Public Administration stated that that Ministry had an excellent cooperation with the UNDP, and further improvements are to be expected. Minister Brajović and Ms. Udovički emphasized an extreme importance of the project for development f the capacities of local self governments in the North of Montenegro worth €1,5 million. This project will, along with the construction of a motorway, contribute to strong development and opening of new economic prospectives for local population in the North. Also, they agreed that future collaboration between the Ministry and UNDP should be based on projects like that – or similar ones – that enhance administrative capacities and animate potential donors for the benefit of the citizens of Montenegro.

Before an evening meeting with representatives of international/donor community (ADA, EC, GTZ, OSCE, SOROS, USAID, WB and Embassies of Austria, France, Germany, Italy, Russia, UK, USA), Ms. Udovički held a media conference to pass the following conclusions from her visit to Montenegro:

 

 

• The visit reconfirmed very high level of cooperation between UN and specifically UNDP and the Government of Montenegro, which had been very positively assessed during the Prime Minister meeting with the UN Secretary General and the Administrator on 24 September during the 64th UNGA session.
• Specifically the Government commended UN system for the Delivering as One programme to be prepared by the end of this year. The concept of the One UN programme has been already shared with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and will be considered by the Steering Committee in October this year.
• UNDP highly appreciates the commitment and contribution of the Government to the One UN Eco Premises even during the period of serious budget constraints.
• UNDP has identified four major areas of common action in the next year period: social inclusion, democratic governance, climate change and sustainable development. The main cross cutting theme is the support to the Government to build national capacities, at both central and local levels. UNDP is championing new capacity development programmes with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Interior and Ministry of Justice, and we continue our already successful programme with the Ministry of European Integration.
• The Government and UNDP agreed on a strategy which is designed to provide effective support to the Government in addressing key national priorities. It includes support to the process of Montenegro’s integration into the European Union (specifically very successful work with the Ministry of European Integration), as well as addressing such issues as social exclusion, regional disparities, strengthening of national capacities. In the coming years we will focus more on the support to local development and strengthening the capacities of local administrations and parliaments.
• During the meeting we specifically mentioned the work of UNDP in promoting regional cooperation, particularly in domains of climate change, protected areas and cross-border cooperation. The Country Office is managing the biggest regional programme - the environmental Hot Spots remediation in 6 countries and territories of the Western Balkans, worth $15 million. In Montenegro this project brought about one of successful area based development projects in Mojkovac municipality.
• Although the Human Development Index increased since 2006 and the country belongs to the group of high level human development (ranking 64 in the world), the poverty rate is still rather high (10.8%). We launched the first ever National Human Development Report 2009: Montenegro-Society for All, that it has highlighted a number of gaps and makes recommendations on how to address the problems of vulnerable groups, including the Roma population, people with disabilities, pensioners and the unemployed.
• One of the major immediate priorities of UNDP is to assist the Government of Montenegro to tackle the issues of regional disparities and social exclusion that have been exacerbated by the financial crisis. The financial crisis appears to be bottoming out in the developed countries where it started.
• We see our role in this by supporting the relevant Government programmes aimed at employment generation (including creation of “green jobs”) and entrepreneurship development (particularly start ups). We believe that it could be carried out through jointly funded and well coordinated projects to be supported by UNDP implementation teams.
• As a direct response to crisis (but with a longer term vision) UNDP Montenegro is launching a program called “Crisis mitigation through targeted economic development”, which will impact the five municipalities in the north of the country. We will carry out this program in close coordination with GTZ, USAID, Austrian Development Agency and EC.
• In the context of our anti-crisis strategy we have recently approved one project in support of the local administrations of the North (with Governmental co-funding of $100,000) and have just submitted another proposal to develop active labour schemes and start-ups in the North to the Ministry of Economy. 
• One of the priority strategic areas of UNDP intervention in the coming years will be the climate change and its impact on various economic and social clusters. We concentrate our work on the preparation of the First National communication on climate change which would give the first analytical snapshot of the climate change situation in the country and its impact on different sectors of economy, including industry, transport, tourism, biodiversity and protected areas. In this regard there is excellent cooperation with the Ministry of Spatial Planning and Environment, Ministry of Tourism and the Ministry of Economy.
• During the meeting with the ministers of economic block the importance was emphasized of developing a low-carbon economy increasingly based on a higher-end tourism industry that provides opportunities for all regions and social groups to participate. This is the most likely way for Montenegro to encourage the practice of corporate social responsibility (CSR) as a means to sustainable development. Also, UNDP will gather a wide range of stakeholders addressing this issue, and will launch Global Compact by April 2010.

Ms. Udovički, media conference – Video (in local language) (12MB)

Excerpts from an interview with Ms. Udovički (in local language) (17MB), made by independent MAMA TV Company (topics: the impact of global economic crisis on Montenegro and the region, UNDP Montenegro’s activities to help overcome the economic crisis, the European integration processes in light of global crisis, expectations of Montenegro and the Region)