During the tour of Skadar Lake, Mr Pajović was accompanied by Director of National Parks of Montenegro Ms Azra Vuković, Director of the Skadar Lake National Park Mr Goran Škatarić and ornithologist of National Parks Ms Nela Vešović-Dubak.



Press statements:

President of the Parliament of Montenegro Mr Darko Pajović:

- Today, we came here to visit the protected nature reserve Pančeva oka on Skadar Lake, and in the same time to learn about problems in the work of the National Parks, because, as you know, the Parliament, as the highest legislative body in Montenegro, adopts a number of laws related to environment. We should stress out that people in the National Parks have a lot of problems.  However, we should also emphasise that all of us today noted that Skadar Lake is a huge, not to say an endless source of economic gain. Nonetheless, I also believe that we agree that Skadar Lake primarily deserves strong protection, so that we could then valorise it economically in a quality and sustainable manner. Therefore, the National Parks make their own efforts within their possibilities but we should be realistic and say that the state has to support strongly the protection of the National Parks and later sustainable usage of these natural resources. I believe that we have created a good energy, and also synergy of state institutions regarding these issues, and I believe that today’s meeting and the conversation that we had, formal and informal, will influence on improving the condition in this field with regard to the legislative framework. We also should bear in mind that all the laws we adopt in the Parliament should be also applied in practise. Therefore, great benefit of events like this one is that parliamentarians, including me, the first among equals, can learn on the spot about problems, possibilities for their resolving and also possibilities for applying tasks of the Parliament - and that is to adopt laws, including the laws on environment protection.

Director of the National Parks of Montenegro Ms Azra Vuković:

- This visit was an additional promotion of activities of birds watching, which is a growing tourist branch in the world, particularly in protected areas. We in the Skadar Lake National Park need additional promotion of this activity and that was the aim of this visit.  Therefore, apart from this, we also discussed current state of the National Park, needs of the National Park and some activities which should be better regulated, primarily through legislative framework, for the purpose of making the functioning of the National Parks easier and simpler.