The government has decided to select a bidder who will create a special investment program based on which someone can obtain Montenegrin, so-called economic citizenship.
"A special investment program is considered a program on the basis of which Montenegrin citizenship can be acquired by admission, and on the basis of investment in economic activity that will contribute to the economic development of Montenegro, real estate and/or payment of funds to a special account of the budget of Montenegro", it was stated in Decisions on the method, procedure and criteria for the selection of bidders for the development and implementation of a special investment program on the basis of which a person can acquire Montenegrin citizenship by admission.
The decision was adopted by the Government at its session at the end of July.
The Government Bureau for Public Relations did not respond to "Vijesta" when the call for the selection of bidders will be announced and when the process is planned to end.
For the organization and implementation of the procedure for the selection of bidders, as stated in the Decision, the competent commission proposed by the state administration authorities responsible for economy, finance, sustainable development and tourism and internal and external affairs will be responsible.
A special investment program includes management, methods and conditions for the selection of investors and implementation of the program, analysis and assessment of financial effects, development and implementation of a marketing strategy, as well as other activities determined by the project task.
It is foreseen that the bidders pay a deposit, that is, submit a bank guarantee of the bid, in accordance with the tender documentation.
The government has been preparing the economic citizenship program since the middle of last year, in order, as the Ministry of Tourism and Sustainable Development said earlier, to attract investors who would invest money, primarily in the northern region.
In 2010, the government launched an economic citizenship program in which it planned to offer a passport to anyone who invests at least half a million euros, part of which would be paid directly into the budget. It gave up on the request of the European Union.
In May of this year, a sub-legal act on economic citizenship was adopted, which, as Prime Minister Milo Đukanović said at the time, is an introduction to the new rulebook and another opportunity to promote economic growth.
In recent years, Montenegrin passports were distributed, some of them to controversial persons suspected of criminal acts in their countries, at the suggestion of former and current Prime Ministers Igor Lukšić and Milo Đukanović, President Filip Vujanović and former President of the Assembly Ranko Krivokapić.
As honorary citizens of Montenegro, former Palestinian minister Muhamed Dahlan, whom the Palestinian authorities suspect of embezzling hundreds of millions from state funds, and former Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra received passports.
In 2009, Šinavatra was granted a Montenegrin passport by summary procedure, although at that moment he was being prosecuted in his native country for corruption.
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