In March last year, the municipality of Nikšić formed the Economic Council with the aim of improving cooperation between the local administration and the economic sector, and the first results were presented at the press conference.
"The Council was formed in March 2023 and although it was not active as a body, the Municipality worked on activities to lay the foundations for its better work. First of all, an employment strategy and an action plan were adopted, which have explicit measures to strengthen and develop the Business Council. The development of cluster organizations is included in the local plan, and in this way we can best ensure the functioning of the economy. The council consists of more than 30 members, but we are only at the beginning of development," said Darko Žugić.
He assumed the position of Council president at the end of September of this year and in a month and a half secured 50 euros from four economic entities for the local budget, and the money will be directed to four different projects.
"Four business entities recognized the opportunity offered by the Law on Incentive Measures for the Development of Research and Innovation, and on the basis of that opportunity, instead of going to the state treasury, they redirected part of the profit tax to the development of their city and thus showed that they have a special sensibility towards the city in to whom they perform economic activity. The brewery 'Trebjesa' has decided 20 thousand euros, the amount also given by the company 'LD', Mesna industrija 'Goranović' ten thousand and the company 'Niksal' five thousand", said the vice-president of the municipality Mitar Goranović.
He pointed out that other business entities were also interested in the money staying in Nikšić, but due to objective circumstances and insufficient information, they were unable to help the city. He believes that next year, on that basis, more funds will be allocated for Nikšić.
"The money will be spent on the realization of four goals - organizing events for the networking of the business sector and the academic community, forming a team for developing projects and applying for EU funds, training small and medium-sized companies about the funds and forming an information system. There are great opportunities offered by EU funds, but unfortunately we are not sufficiently trained in this sense and we cannot use all the opportunities offered to us, so until Montenegro enters the EU, it is good to further strengthen ourselves in this field with new knowledge and skills and we enter the EU more prepared, and funds are waiting for us there that are more generous and more easily available, and I hope that then a more dynamic development of both the city and the state will occur", said Goranović and praised the work and agility of Žugić.
"The council was formed in order to improve cooperation between local government and the economy and gradually eliminate existing business barriers. A large number of businessmen from Nikšić do not use incentive measures to the extent currently available by law. Through the work of the Economic Council, we can keep millions in the coming period. This is piloting the Council's further work," said Žugić.
According to him, business councils in Montenegro are mostly not functional because they are bulky, so they made a strategy to form working groups that will be transformed into cluster organizations, which is also a proposal of the EU as examples of good practice.
The executive director of the "Trebjesa" Brewery, Sanja Ćalasan, praised the initiative of forming the Business Council.
"We are always here to support initiatives aimed at the development of the local economy. We see this as a way to network with other companies, to help as much as we can, both with the transfer of knowledge and with funds, to improve some practices, introduce new technologies, provide access to national and international funds, and all of this is aimed at developing the competitiveness of the local economy. Nikšić is an economic city, we have good companies, good entrepreneurial ideas, but everything can be done much better. It would be a shame not to use what is available to us - both through the Economic Council and through the funds. This is the beginning, and we will do our best to make this a successful story," Ćalasan said.
And Olivera Đurković from "Niksal" praised the establishment of the Council and the work of Žugić, emphasizing that her company "considers investing in such projects as part of its responsibility towards the local community and towards the development of the city itself".
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