The official delegation of the Pardubice Region from the Czech Republic, led by the Governor of the Region, Martin Netolicki, visited Tivat yesterday where they met with the leadership of that city, led by the President of the Municipality of Tivat, Željko Komnenović.
During their visit to Tivat, the guests from the Czech Republic toured Tivat Airport, city landmarks, as well as the largest local tourism development projects Porto Montenegro and Luštica Bay, and the Kotor-Tivat wastewater treatment plant in Krtoli.
Welcoming the delegation from the Czech Republic, which, in addition to Governor Netolicki, also consisted of his deputies and members of the Pardubice Regional Assembly, Mayor Komnenović recalled that in June last year, delegations from the municipalities of Tivat and Žabljak visited Pardubice and then opened talks on establishing closer cooperation between these Montenegrin cities with the Pardubice region, which is the most economically developed part of the Czech Republic.
"Today, we had the opportunity to visit Tivat Airport together with Governor Netzolicki and his associates and talk about potential cooperation, and we agreed that already in January we will have a framework text for the future concrete Memorandum of Cooperation between the Pardubice and Tivat regions. The focus is on cooperation in the areas of sports, culture, education, but also the labor market. We hope that we will find common ground and common interests in these, but also other areas of economic cooperation, primarily tourism," said Komnenović.
He stressed that yesterday, at Tivat Airport, he and his Czech partners remembered with special reverence the victims of the Inex Adria 450 flight tragedy from half a century ago. Namely, on October 30, 1975, a DC-9 aircraft of the Slovenian company Inex Adria took off from Tivat Airport towards Prague on a charter flight with Czechoslovak tourists returning home after a stay on the Adriatic. While approaching to land at Prague airport, the aircraft crashed, and 79 of the 120 people on board lost their lives in that tragedy.
"We also talked about the former largest Tivat hotel, Plavi Horizont, which was purpose-built to accommodate almost exclusively Czech tourists, and numerous other connections between the Czech Republic and Tivat, including the fact that the first instruments for the Musical and Educational Society (City Music) of Tivat were purchased and brought from the Czech Republic in 1909, and that the first conductor of our City Music was the Czech Antun Blažek. Our connections are very rich and deep, but unfortunately they have not been so intense in the last few decades. However, we hope that with this visit by Governor Netolicki and his associates, these relations and cooperation will be intensified again and expanded to many other areas, primarily for the benefit of young people from the Pardubice region and young people from Tivat and Boka," said Komnenović.
The Pardubice region has a population of around 500.000 and covers an area of around 4.500 km2. The automotive industry accounts for a significant share of the local economy in this part of the Czech Republic.
Governor Martin Netolicki said that the opportunity to establish more intensive relations with cities and regions in Montenegro is very important for the Pardubice region and that he is pleased to return the visit to the partners from Montenegro that he hosted in the Czech Republic last year.
"We want to gradually define all areas of our future cooperation. When we sign the Memorandum of Cooperation, the Pardubice region will be the first in the Czech Republic to have such a concrete framework for cooperation established with someone from Montenegro. We consider the entire Balkan region to be very promising for economic cooperation and we are very grateful that we have the opportunity to establish the first concrete relations in that direction with you. We will cooperate in the field of public administration, but also exchange concrete projects in sports, culture and education," emphasized Netolicki, adding that the Czech Republic, which has been in the European Union since 2004, has rich experience in preparing projects for the use of EU funds, which the Pardubice region will be happy to share with Tivat and help the Tivat local government to use them more efficiently to solve some local infrastructure problems.
The guests from the Czech Republic are staying in Montenegro for four days, two of which in Tivat, where they will be hosted by the Mayor of the Municipality Željko Komnenović. They will also spend two days in Žabljak, where they will be welcomed by the Mayor of that Municipality, Radoš Žugić.
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