Meeting between the members of the Committee on Economy, Finance and Budget of the Parliament of Montenegro and members of the Committee on the Economy, Regional Development, Trade, Tourism and Energy of the National Assembly of Serbia was held today in the Parliament of Montenegro. The meeting is held with the support of the Westminster Foundation for Democracy (WFD) and Network of Parliamentary Committees on Economy, Finance and European Integration of the Western Balkans.

In the introductory part, participants were also addressed by the host of the meeting, Aleksandar Damjanović, Chairperson of the Committee on Economy, Finance and Budget of the Parliament of Montenegro and member of the Board of the Network of Parliamentary Committees on Economy, Finance and European Integration of the Western Balkans and Aleksandra Tomić, Chairperson of the Committee on the Economy, Regional Development, Trade, Tourism and Energy of the National Assembly of Serbia.

The meeting was focused on balanced regional development, and in this regard, the two states exchanged experiences in relation to incentive measures aimed at achieving the policy of balanced regional development, as well as the concrete results of these measures. In particular, the need is highlighted to strengthen cross-border cooperation for supporting the development of underdeveloped regions, the northern region of Montenegro and the neighboring region of southwestern Serbia. The substantial decentralization and particularly fiscal decentralization were identified as challenges for the effective implementation of regional development policies and in this regard experiencesbetween Montenegro and Serbia were exchanged.

Committee members also discussed about the trade relations between Montenegro and the Republic of Serbia, i.e. the mutual exchange of goods and mutual payments of goods and services and the need for further strengthening the economic cooperation between the two states. In this regard, it was pointed out that it would be appropriate, in terms of ensuring conditions for the establishment of direct payment transactions between Montenegro and Serbia, that the committees, in cooperation with the competent banks Central Bank of Montenegro and the National Bank of the Republic of Serbia and the governments of the two states, should initiate activities that would lead to solving current problems in mutual payments, because they affect the increase in prices of goods and services and the decline in competitiveness.

One of the topics of the meeting was the field of energy, supervision in the field of energy policy and the policy of investment in the energy sector. It was noted that the energy sector represented a great opportunity for development of all countries in the region, especially Serbia and Montenegro, both in terms of valorization of existing and in terms of building new power plants. In this sense, the definition of common energy priorities or coordinated approach toward large investors in this field is the key to the development of this area.

During today's meeting, members of the two committees emphasized the importance of economic connections between the two states and the need for further cooperation through joint projects candidacy, and in this sense, the support was expressed for the upcoming investment summit in Belgrade between China and Southeast Europe.

In addition to the Chairperson of the Committee Aleksandar Damjanović, the following members of the Committee on Economy, Finance and Budget of the Parliament of Montenegro participated in the meeting: Damir Šehović, Filip Vuković, Strahinja Bulajić and Nik Gjeloshaj.

On behalf of the Committee on the Economy, Regional Development, Trade, Tourism and Energy of the National Assembly of Serbia, the meetings was attended by the Chairperson of the Committee Aleksandra Tomić PhD, and members of the Committee: Jelena Mijatović, Saša Maksimović, Dragoljub Zindović and Zoran Pralica. The meeting was attended by Nikola Ratković, deputy Ambassador of the Republic of Serbia to Montenegro.

At the end of today's bilateral meeting, it was agreed that the committees should prepare a proposal of evaluations and positions, which would be submitted, after harmonization and in accordance with competence of both committees, to the governments of Montenegro and the Republic of Serbia.