The government agreed to pay 4,27 million US dollars to the Chinese Exim bank, of which 2,44 million US dollars for obligations due under the credit arrangement with Crnogorski plovidba and 1,83 million US dollars for obligations under the arrangement with Barska plovidba.
At today's session, the government adopted information on the settlement of obligations due on July 21 within the credit arrangements concluded between Crnogorska plovidba and the Chinese Exim bank, as well as Barska plovidba and Exim bank, for which the state issued guarantees.
"The government accepted the bank's request to settle the due obligations, based on the guarantees issued for the aforementioned loans, bearing in mind that the mentioned companies are not able to settle their obligations, in accordance with the loan repayment plan," the announcement states.
The Ministry of Finance is responsible for, after payment of the guaranteed amount, submitting the necessary documentation to the Protector of Property and Legal Interests of Montenegro, so that all necessary actions can be taken to protect the property and legal interests of the state.
Today, the government adopted amendments to the Regulation on the implementation and procedure of using funds from the European Union's pre-accession aid instrument (IPARD III Program).
"This Regulation enables the implementation of the IPARD III Program, whose goal is to prepare Montenegrin farmers for entry into the EU, by using the funds from IPA III for the field of agriculture and rural development to the greatest extent possible, which will result in the improvement of product quality , increasing the volume of production, greater competitiveness and reaching EU food safety standards in the primary and processing sectors", the announcement states.
The program will finance investments aimed at modernizing agricultural farms, improving existing and building new processing capacities, as well as improving rural infrastructure and rural tourism.
"The foreseen non-refundable support to agricultural producers amounts to a total of EUR 81,98 million, of which the EU contribution is EUR 63 million or 75 percent, while the national co-financing is EUR 18,98 million or 25 percent," said the Government.
The amended Regulation defines for the user of support funds the way of using support funds from the IPARD III program, defines eligible users, sectors, investments and costs, the conditions that the user needs to fulfill in order to obtain grants, as well as the field and administrative control procedure.
"In this way, the user can see and facilitate the review of the conditions and procedures of available funds for financing investments, and at the same time encourages better spending of the funds of the IPARD III program," the announcement states.
Today, the government got acquainted with the report on the state aid granted in the last year.
According to the available information submitted to the Agency, at the time of writing the report, last year state aid was granted in the total amount of EUR 13,19 million.
"The absolute amount of state aid granted last year is 23,24 percent higher than in 2022, when state aid totaled 10,12 million euros, and 70,65 percent lower than in 2021, when state aid was amounted to 44,93 million euros", said the Government.
The rulebook changed the reporting methodology, so that the agriculture and fisheries sector is not reported in the annual report, unlike in previous years, when support to agriculture and fisheries was reported, but only in the total amount.
"The agency particularly notes the provisions of the SAA, which was transferred to the national legislation, which stipulates that this law does not apply to incentives for the development of agriculture and fisheries. These incentives will be regulated by a special regulation related to state aid in these sectors, in accordance with EU rules," the statement added.
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