The Chamber of Commerce, in cooperation with the Montenegrin Investment Agency and the Ministry of Finance, organized a round table on topic “Public-private partnership as a chance to valorize the potential of Montenegro.”
During the meeting, the private partners were introduced to the legal framework that regulates the area of Public-Private Partnership, investment potentials that could be valorized through this concept, and successfully implemented projects.
The President of the Chamber of Commerce, Dr. Nina Drakić, assessed that the Public-Private Partnership in Montenegro is not yet sufficiently represented, considering the multiple advantages it offers.
– For the implementation of this type of contract, harmonized legal, regulatory and political framework is a necessity and it is one of the conditions for attracting foreign investments.
The experiences of EU countries and the region show that the selection of public-private partnership projects should be based on comprehensive and systemic analyses, with appropriate risk assessment, and that projects at the local level must be harmonized with spatial plans of local administration – Drakić assessed.
Jelena Jovetić, Director of the Directorate for Public Procurement Policy at the Ministry of Finance, presented the legal framework for Public-Private Partnership in Montenegro. The Law on Public-Private Partnership was adopted in 2019, but, according to Jovetić, still hasn’t been applied to the greater extent due to insufficient practice and new projects.
– When we were preparing this Law, we had an intention to transfer international practice, but also to include certain our specificities, Jovetić pointed out.
Jovetić emphasized that the overall purpose of Public-Private Partnership projects is to maintain continuity in the provision of public services, as a goal to increase their quality for the end user.
Mladen Grgić, Director of the Montenegrin Investment Agency, spoke about the valorization of potentials in Montenegro through the Public-Private Partnership.
During the presentation, he presented the scope of work and activities of this Agency, pointing out that, among other obligations, its focus is on the promotion of Public-Private Partnership.
– In the last six months, we visited all Montenegrin municipalities, potential contracting authorities, where we presented the importance of Public-Private Partnership – he said, adding that a normative framework has been created to enable the Agency to evaluate projects.
Grgić pointed out that the goal of Public-Private Partnership is not for the state to transfer responsibility to someone else, but to share the risk and not deal with services for which it is not trained, but for the private partner to effectively implement it.
– The state should deal with the essence, which is the monitoring and control of Public-Private Partnership projects, taking care, at the same time, to ensure that the contracts are fully respected – he concluded.
Miloš Laković from the Law Office “Moravčević, Vojnović and partners, in cooperation with Schoenherr”, presented successful projects and practical experience in the implementation of Public-Private Partnerships and concessions in Montenegro and the region.
During the round table, private partners got the necessary additional clarifications about the Public-Private Partnership model and the possibilities to get involved in the implementation of projects in this way.
