NEWSLETTER OPEN PARLIAMENT · cooperation with the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU), and with the support of the OSCE Mission to Serbia and Initiative Open Parliament, organised on

CONTENT

Legislative and oversight activity.........................2

News from Parliament.................................................4

Visit of the Secretary General to the ParliamentaryAssembly of Serbia ...........................................................4Brajović and NGOs: we should jointly promoteprogress of institutions and the society as awhole......................................................................................4

Parliamentary glossary.............................................5

In Focus................................................................................5

From the History of MontenegrinParliamentarism...........................................................6

Calendar..............................................................................7PARLIAMENTARY GLOSSARY

Do you know... what is an amendment?

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IN FOCUS

President of the Parliament met with the Presidentof the Slovenian Parliament

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FROM HISTORY OF MONTENEGRINPARLIAMENTARISM

Rules of Procedure from 1978, 1996 and 2013

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NEWSLETTEROPEN

PARLIAMENTctÜÄ|tÅxÇà Éy `ÉÇàxÇxzÜÉ

Newsletter on the Parliament of Montenegro Performance No. 74 August and September 2017

Parliament of Montenegro

Bilten o radu Vlade Crne Gore Elektronsko izdanje Izlazi petnaestodnevno Godina II Broj 17 1-Bilten o radu Vlade Crne Gore Elektronsko izdanje Izlazi petnaestodnevno Godina II Broj 17 1-Bilten o radu Vlade Crne Gore Elektronsko izdanje Izlazi petnaestodnevno Godina II Broj 17 1-Bilten o radu Vlade Crne Gore Elektronsko izdanje Izlazi petnaestodnevno Godina II Broj 17 1-

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Dear readers,We present to you the key information on activitiesof the Parliament of Montenegro in the period fromAugust to 30 September, which is, in the form ofmonthly newsletter “Open Parliament”, prepared byParliamentary Service.During September, the Sitting of the ThirdExtraordinary session of the Parliament ofMontenegro in 2017 took place, during which onelaw was adopted. In September, Committees considered 11 proposalsfor a law, and performed other activities withintheir oversight role.In focus of this month’s newsletter is the meetingof the President of the Parliament of Montenegrowith the President of the Slovenian Parliament,which took place on 11 September. The newsletter is published monthly through whichthe Parliament endeavours to bring its work closerto Montenegrin citizens. We consider thispublication to be very significant as a reliablesource of information regarding the work of theParliament and we hope that you will find it useful.We remain open to your comments andsuggestions, as well as criticism, which can help usbring more quality to our work.Respectfully,

Parliamentary Service

LEGISLATIVE ANDOVERSIGHT ACTIVITY

At the Sitting of the Third Extraordinary Sessionof the Parliament of Montenegro in 2017, MPsadopted the Law on Spatial Planning and Constructionof Buildings.

Proposals for Law deliberated in Committees

• Proposal for a Law on Amendments to theCustoms Law was considered and proposed to theParliament for adoption by the Legislative Committee.

• Proposal for a Law on Foreign Affairs wasconsidered and proposed to the Parliament foradoption by the Legislative Committee. • Proposal for a Law on Amendments to the

Bankruptcy Law was considered and proposed tothe Parliament for adoption by the LegislativeCommittee. • Proposal for a Law on Ratification of the

Agreement between Montenegro and theRepublic of Portugal on Double TaxationAvoidance and Prevention of Income Tax Evasionwas considered and proposed to the Parliament foradoption by the Committee on International Relationsand Emigrants.

• Proposal for a Law on Ratification of the ParisAgreement was considered and proposed to the

ISSN 1800-9034

OPEN PARLIAMENT

Parliament of Montenegro

FOREWORD

Newsletter on the Parliament of Montenegro Performance Electronic format Release: monthly Year VII No. 74 August and September 2017

Parliament of MontenegroThe newsletter is edited by the Education Centre of the Parliamentary Institute.

Bilten o radu Vlade Crne Gore Elektronsko izdanje Izlazi petnaestodnevno Godina II Broj 17 1-Bilten o radu Vlade Crne Gore Elektronsko izdanje Izlazi petnaestodnevno Godina II Broj 17 1-Bilten o radu Vlade Crne Gore Elektronsko izdanje Izlazi petnaestodnevno Godina II Broj 17 1-Bilten o radu Vlade Crne Gore Elektronsko izdanje Izlazi petnaestodnevno Godina II Broj 17 1-Bilten o radu Vlade Crne Gore Elektronsko izdanje Izlazi petnaestodnevno Godina II Broj 17 1-Bilten o radu Vlade Crne Gore Elektronsko izdanje Izlazi petnaestodnevno Godina II Broj 17 1-

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Parliament for adoption by the Legislative Committeeand the Committee on International Relations andEmigrants. • Proposal for a Law on Ratification of amendments

to the Stockholm Convention on PersistentOrganic Pollutants was considered and proposed tothe Parliament for adoption by the LegislativeCommittee and the Committee on InternationalRelations and Emigrants.

• Proposal for a Law on Spatial Planning andConstruction of Buildings was considered andproposed to the Parliament for adoption by theLegislative Committee and the Committee onTourism, Agriculture, Ecology and Spatial Planning.

• Proposal for a Law on Services was considered andproposed to the Parliament for adoption by theCommittee on Economy, Finance and Budget. • Proposal for a Law on Amendment to the Law on

Audit of EU Funds was considered and proposed tothe Parliament for adoption by the LegislativeCommittee and the Committee on Economy, Financeand Budget. • Proposal for a Law on Amendments to the Law on

Restitution of the Taken Away Property Rightsand Compensation was considered and proposed tothe Parliament for adoption by the LegislativeCommittee and the Committee on Economy, Financeand Budget.

• Proposal for a Law on Amendments to the Law onSafety of Maritime Navigation was considered andproposed to the Parliament for adoption by theLegislative Committee and the Committee onEconomy, Finance and Budget.

Other activities of working bodies

• At the fourteenth meeting of the Committee onInternational Relations and Emigrants, held on 21September, members of the Committee gave apositive opinion on the proposal for appointingMiodrag Vlahović as Extraordinary andPlenipotentiary Ambassador of Montenegro to theHoly See and the Sovereign Order of Malta, on aresidential basis, in Rome.

• At the ninth meeting of the Committee on EuropeanIntegration, held on 14 September, members of the

Committee have, in the presence of the Ministry ofEuropean Affairs, Ministry of Finance and the Unionof Municipalities of Montenegro, consideredInformation regarding EU Assistance Programmesinvolving 2015-2016.At the tenth meeting, held on the same day, membersof the Committee have unanimuosly supported theThirteenth and the Fourteenth Quarterly Report onthe overall activities within the integration processof Montenegro to the EU, covering the periodJanuary-March, respectively April-June 2017.Furthermore, members of the Committee haveconsidered the First asnd Second Quarterly Reporton the implementation of commitments stemmingfrom Montenegro's Programme of Accession to theEU 2017-2018, involving January-June 2017.

• At the fourteenth meeting of the AdministrativeCommittee, held on 6 September, the Committeeinitiated the procedure for the appointment of onemember of the Council of the Electronic MediaAgency, by submitting a public invitation to theMontenegrin PEN Center.

At the fifteenth meeting, held on 14 September, theCommittee decided to readvertise the Fourth openvacancy notice for the election of one member of theState Electoral Commission from amongrepresentatives of the civil society, NGO and theUniversity. In addition, at the proposal of theSecretary General of the Parliament of MontenegroAleksandar Jovićević, the Committee determined theDraft Rulebook on the Amendments to the Rulebookon the manner of selection and testing of candidatesfor employment and the accessibility of thedocumentation involving public notices within theService of the Parliament of Montenegro.
















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NEWS FROM PARLIAMENT

The National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia, incooperation with the Inter-Parliamentary Union(IPU), and with the support of the OSCE Mission to Serbiaand Initiative Open Parliament, organised on 15September the working forum in Belgrade on the topic ofthe “Democracy and active citizens - path towards openparliaments”. The event was held on the occasion of themarking of International Day of Democracy, with this year’sofficial slogan "Stronger Democracies - Get Engaged Now!"Participants of the Forum were the Secretaries Generalof the parliaments of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegroand Serbia, as well as representatives of civil society andinternational organisations, and the Service of the NationalAssembly of the Republic of Serbia.The work of the event was realised in two panels:"Openness and transparency of parliaments in Serbia and

the region - action plans for openness and benefits ofparliamentary involvement in the Open GovernmentPartnership Initiative" and "Civic participation in decision-making processes - successful solutions and models in theregion".Visit of the Secretary General to the Parliamentary Assembly of Serbia

Brajović and NGOs: we should jointly promote progress of institutions and the society as awholeOn the 20th anniversary of the adoption of the IPU'sUniversal Declaration on Democracy, as well as the10th anniversary of the United Nations General Assembly'sdecision to proclaim 15 September as the International Dayof Democracy, President of the Parliament of MontenegroIvan Brajović met with representatives of NGOs, such asCEDEM, CDT, CEMI, MANS and GA, which were involved inthe monitoring of the election process in Montenegro. Itwas noted that an open and constructive cooperationbetween the Parliament and NGOs, with an unbiased andobjective approach was in the interest of further progressof institutions and Montenegrin society as a whole. It wasjointly concluded that the Parliament has achievedsignificantly greater openness and transparency of work,creating a solid basis for further progress in the exchangeof opinions with the civic sector, both through organisationsand individually.

There were also talks about the application of goodpractices of more developed societies, involving expertswho would provide analytical assistance and therefore also

provide a basis aimed at further promotion of legislativeframeworks, quality of documents, procedures and otherelements of importance to the legislative and control roleof the Parliament, whether it involves the electoral process

or another process deemed of interest for the entire society.The President noted that the assessment which declaredthe Parliament of Montenegro the parliament with thehighest level of openness in the region was gained througha conducted research of Regional Index of Openness, whichincites us to additionally increase openness of work and thecommunication between the parliament and the public.President Brajović announced that by the end of the yearthe Cetinje Parliamentary Forum shall take place and it shalldeal with the topic involving strengthening the openness ofthe work of the parliament. It shall also deal with thewelcoming of initiatives put forward by civic society, aimedat further democratisation of society through promotion ofwork culture and dialogue.
















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Amendment. „An amendment is an instrument used in the procedure of decision making aimed at amendingthe proposal that is being debated. Adopted amendments become part of the proposed act.In the Parliament of Montenegro, amendments are submitted in written form with a statement of reasons notlater than on the date of the conclusion of the general debate, while the proposer of the law or any other act and theresponsible committee have to submit amendments before the general debate. Amendments to the proposal of thelaw are sent to MPs, the entity proposing the law, the government (if it is not the proposing entity) and to theresponsible committee (if the committee is not the entity submitting the amendments). The responsible committeeis obliged to consider the submitted amendments and to propose their adoption or rejection to the Parliament. TheParliament renders its decisions on the amendments according to the order of the articles in the proposal of the actto which the amendments refer, provided that the amendment submitted by the proposing entity and the amendmentaccepted by the proposing entity become a constituent part of the proposed act and the parliament does not renderany particular decisions thereon.“1

PARLIAMENTARY GLOSSARY

1 Doc. dr Komar, Olivera, Prof. dr Ivana Jelić, Nataša Komnenić, Irena Mijanović, Jelena Radonjić, Vlatko Šćepanović, Parlamentarni leksikon,Podgorica, Skupština Crne Gore 2016, str. 174.

IN FOCUS

President of the Parliament met with the President of the Slovenian ParliamentAt the meeting of President of the NationalAssembly of the Republic of Slovenia Milan Brglezand his host President of the Parliament of MontenegroIvan Brajović, on 11 September, it was concluded thatMontenegro, as aspirant country to join the EuropeanUnion, was an example when it comes to theimplementation of reforms and fostering the bestneighbourly relations without open issues. In thatcontext, President Brajović emphasised our country’sadvocating for valuing the pace of joining the EU for everycountry individually.The President of the NationalAssembly emphasised the willingness of Slovenia toshare the integration experiences of its state, especiallybearing in mind numerous similarities of the twocountries and their parliaments. He also reiterated theposition of all international officials, that the Parliament,and not the street nor any other place, was a place fordiscussing various political options. As an example ofcooperation beneficial to the state, Brglez pointed outthat the delegation of the National Assembly alsoconsisted of representatives of the opposition parties. Itwas agreed that in the upcoming period concrete stepswould be considered for improvement of cooperation ofthe two parliaments through the Memorandum ofUnderstanding as well.During the conversation with representatives of theCommittee on International Relations and Emigrants,Committee on European Integration, and Security andDefence Committee, MP Miodrag Vuković voiced

gratitude to the representatives of the Republic ofSlovenia for their support during the NATO membershipprocess, emphasising that joining the North AtlanticAlliance was a result of our intensive work, whileMontenegro did everything expected from a countryaspiring to become a part of the serious society. Heemphasised that the fact that Montenegro today was amember of NATO represented honour and at the sametime he pointed out that the membership did not onlymean benefits but also responsibility and efforts aimedat contributing to the collective security system.Chair of the Committee on European IntegrationAdrijan Vuksanović said that he believed in thesustainability of European values, and that Montenegro,through the EU membership, needed to institutionalisethe values it naturally fostered through multi-ethnicityand multiculturalism.Chair of the Committee on International Relationsand Emigrants Andrija Nikolić said that Montenegro wasoriented towards its European path in full capacity, andthat after the support to NATO membership, significantsupport to the European orientation of Montenegro alsocame precisely from the friendly Slovenia.The delegation headed by Brglez also met withmembers of the Parliamentary Friendship Group ofMontenegro and Slovenia, headed by Vice President ofthe Parliament Branimir Gvozdenović.This was followed by the meeting withrepresentatives of the opposition MP groups.
















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FROM HISTORY OF MONTENEGRINPARLIAMENTARISMRULES OF PROCEDURE OF 1978, 1996 AND 2013

RULES OF PROCEDURE FROM 1978

The Constituting of Parliament

Article 73The first sitting of the Council in a new compositionis convened by the President of the Council of theprevious convocation, who is to preside over the firstsitting of the council until a new president has beenelected.Upon the verifying of mandates and a solemndeclaration, the council shall elect the president ofthe council. The President of the Council shall notify thepresident of the Parliament of the previousconvocation on the verifying of mandates.Article 74The President of Parliament of the previousconvocation shall summon the first meeting of all thecouncils of the Parliament, during which thePresident and vice- presidents of the Parliament areto be elected, and shall preside over until the electionof a new president. The first meeting of all the councils is to be held afterthe verifying of mandates of council delegates.RULES OF PROCEDURE OF 1996The Constituting of ParliamentArticle 4The first sitting of Parliament shall be summoned bythe President of the previous convocation, within 15days after the holding of elections.Prior to the election of the new President, the firstsitting of Parliament shall be presided over by theeldest MP, who shall be assisted by the SecretaryGeneral of the Parliament. Article 5The verifying of mandates is performed on the basis1 Poslovnik Skupštine SR Crne Gore i poslovnici Vijeća, Sekretarijat za informacije izvršnog vijeća Skupštine SR Crne Gore, Titograd, 1978, str.28,2 Poslovnik Skupštine Republike Crne Gore, Novinsko-izdavačka ustanova Službeni list RCG, Podgorica, 1996. str. 1-2.

of the report issued by the Electoral Commission ofthe Republic on the holding of elections.The President of the Parliament, respectively theChair shall verify that the State Election Commissionhas submitted the Report on conducted elections andannounce that the term of office of newly electedMembers of the Parliament has commenced. RULES OF PROCEDURE OF 2013Constituting of Parliament

Article 5The President of the Parliament of the previousParliamentary term shall convene the first sitting ofthe Parliament following the elections. Newly electedMembers of the Parliament shall be delivered thewrits of summons for the first sitting on the dayfollowing the day of submission of the Report onelections by the State Election Commission, and thesitting shall take place no later than five days afterthe dispatch of the writs of summons to theMembers of the Parliament.Article 6The first sitting of the Parliament, pending theelection of the President of the Parliament, shall bepresided by the oldest Member of the Parliament(the Chair), who shall be assisted in his work by theyoungest Member of the Parliament and theSecretary General of the Parliament.Article 7

At the first sitting of the Parliament, the Chair shallverify that the State Election Commission hassubmitted the Report on conducted elections andannounce that the term of office of newly electedMembers of the Parliament has commenced as of thesubmission of the Report of the State ElectionCommission, and thereafter the President of theParliament and Vice-Presidents as well as the Chairand members of the Administrative Committee shallbe elected.
















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CALENDAR10 August • Andrija Nikolić, the Chair of the Committee onInternational Relations and Emigrants, met with the USAmbassador, Ms Margaret Ann Uyehara. The Chair of theCommittee on International Relations and Emigrants ofthe Parliament of Montenegro, said that the recent visitof the US Vice-President, Michael Pence, occurred at theright moment for Montenegro and Euro-Atlantic allies,primarily in terms of strengthening our country'sposition on the political and security map of the region,but also as a direct answer to those who have not givenup in trying to destabilise the Western Balkans. This is,according to Mr Nikolić, at the same time the mostconvincing display of the quality of Montenegrin -American relations.15 August • President of the Parliament of Montenegro Ivan Brajovićopened the Science Summer School in Ivanova Korita,organised by the Foundation for Promotion of Science.In the Science Summer School, the best high schoolstudents are encouraged to dedicate their careers to thestudying of fundamental sciences.The Prona Foundationorganises camps with the support of the Ministry ofEducation and the Parliament of Montenegro.29 August• President of the Parliament of Montenegro Ivan Brajovićpresented the certificates to the participants of the TenthRegional Euro Atlantic Camp REACT. Within a panel, healso discussed the topic “Montenegro in moderninternational relations” with the participants.

4 September• Chair of the Committee on International Relations andEmigrants Andrija Nikolić took part in this year’s 12thBled Strategic Forum, held on 4 and 5 September. Thisyear’s forum, under the title “New Reality”, was devotedto finding answers and manners for adjusting to the newrealities brought by globalisation and digitalisation, aswell as to promoting innovations for comprehensive andsustainable future. Within the margines of the Forum,Chair Nikolić had several bilateral meetings.7 September• Members of delegation of the Parliament of Montenegroat the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe

Predrag Sekulić and Ervin Ibrahimović took part in theLaunching Conference of the Parliamentary Network onDiaspora Policies, which took place in the Parliament ofthe Republic of Portugal, on 7-8 September. Theconference was divided in several parts, and main topicsduring the two-day debate were: Diaspora contributionto European societies, relations with countries of originand their impact on the development of the country oforigin, democratic participation of Diaspora andpromotion of inter-cultural dialogue, as well as the roleof Diaspora in building cohesive societies.8 September• President of the Parliament hosted new Head of theUNICEF Office Osama Makkawi Khogali. PresidentBrajović expressed confidence that the successful jointactivities would be continued in the future, as well asthat the implementation of the Cooperation Program forMontenegro for the following four years wouldcontribute to the upgrading of the results achieved sofar in the area of child protection, social inclusion, andquality education. The new Head of the UNICEF Officeto Montenegro has congratulated on previous successesand devotion of our country to reforms in the field ofsocial and child protection, and stressed the importanceof cooperation with the Parliament of Montenegro andits relevant committees.

11 September• President of the Parliament of Montenegro Ivan Brajovićmet with the President of the Slovenian ParliamentMilan Brglez. During the meeting, it was concluded thatMontenegro, as aspirant country to join the EuropeanUnion, was an example when it comes to theimplementation of reforms and fostering the bestneighbourly relations without open issues.

12 September• President of the Parliament of Montenegro Ivan Brajović
















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received in a farewell visit the Cuban Ambassador.During the farewell visit of non-resident Ambassador ofCuba to Montenegro Ms Adela Mayra Ruiz Garcia,President of the Parliament of Montenegro Ivan Brajovićexpressed gratitude for her contribution to developmentof traditionally good and friendly relations ofMontenegro and Cuba, which originate from the time ofYugoslavia.

• President of the Parliament of Montenegro Ivan Brajovićreceived newly-appointed Ambassador of Austria toMontenegro. During the inaugural visit of AustrianAmbassador to Montenegro Ana Janković to Presidentof the Parliament of Montenegro Ivan Brajović, theyexpressed mutual pleasure over the continuously goodrelations, with intensive communication at all levels. • Members of the Committee on Political System, Judiciaryand Administration and of the Committee on Education,Science, Culture and Sports met with the expert teamregarding the preparation of the Media Sector Analysis,within the framework of the joint project of the EU andthe Council of Europe. At the meeting, they discussedcurrent legislative framework in the media field andmechanisms for its further development. 13 September• President of the Parliament of Montenegro Ivan Brajovićopened the High Level Segment held within the AarhusConvention and the Protocol on Pollutant Release andTransfer Registers (PRTR Protocol) in Bečići. This eventgathers high-level officials, including ministers, deputyministers, state secretaries, other heads of delegations,and special guests.15 September• President of the Parliament of Montenegro Ivan Brajovićmet with representatives of NGOs, such as CEDEM, CDT,CEMI, MANS and GA,which were involved in themonitoring of the election process in Montenegro.

• Chair of the Committee on International Relations andEmigrants Andrija Nikolić met with the Director Generalof the Presidency for Turks Abroad and RelatedCommunities Mehmet Köse. During the meeting, Nikolićand Köse spoke about specific activities, experience andgood practice in the area of cooperation with thediaspora. • Secretary General of the Parliament of Montenegroparticipated at the working forum in Belgrade on theoccasion of International Day of Democracy, duringwhich experiences of parliaments from Bosnia andHerzegovina, Montenegro and Serbia were presented,with regard to improving transparency andopenness.Participants of the Forum were the SecretariesGeneral of the parliaments of Bosnia and Herzegovina,Montenegro and Serbia, as well as representatives ofcivil society and international organisations, and theService of the National Assembly of the Republic ofSerbia. The secretary general gave address on the topics"Models and examples of good practice in the process ofpromotion of transparency and oppeness of theParliament of Montenegro" and "Civic participation indecision-making processes - successful solutions andmodels in the region".17 September• President of the Parliament Ivan Brajović paid a visit tothe Kingdom of Maroko, where he met with the Presidentof the House of Representatives Habib El Malki, PrimeMinster Saad Eddine El Othmani, State Secretary theMinistry of Foreign Affairs and International CooperationMouni Bouset and other officials. 19 September• Chair of the Security and Defence Committee Obrad MišoStanišić took part in the OSCE Conference on SecuritySector Governance and Reform (SSG/R) on the topic:“Strengthening national SSG/R processes through holisticand inclusive approaches”. The conference was organisedin order to promote a comprehensive and inclusiveapproach to national security sector reform processes,recognised as leading in conflict prevention, earlywarning, crisis management and peacebuilding, exchangeof experiences among local, national and internationalactors in this area, as well as to identify possible ways tostrengthen the OSCE’s approach to SSG/R.• Member of the Committee on Political System, Judiciaryand Administration MP Miloš Nikolić attended theround table titled “Agreement of the Radio and

CALENDAR
















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CALENDARTelevision of Montenegro with the Government ofMontenegro on providing public services”, organisedby the OSCE Mission to Montenegro and the Radio andTelevision of Montenegro with the Government ofMontenegro.• The Parliament of Montenegro, headed by theSecretary General Aleksandar Jovićević, hosted civilservants of the Parliamentary Assembly of Bosnia andHerzegovina. During the course of the meeting,representatives of the Service of the Parliament ofMontenegro informed the colleagues from theParliamentary Assembly of Bosnia and Herzegovinawith the organisation, manner and functioning of theMontenegrin Parliament Service, legislativeprocedures, European integration, the ParliamentaryInstitute, the Research and Education Center,management of documents in the Registry Office andthe search of documents on the website of theParliament of Montenegro. The visit was organisedunder the support of the OSCE mission toMontenegro.

21 September• President of the Parliament of Montenegro IvanBrajović hosted newly appointed Ambassador of theUnited Arab Emirates to Montenegro AbdulsalamAbdulsalam Hareb Obaid Al Romaithi. Theinterlocutors assessed that Montenegro and theUnited Arab Emirates served as examples of stabilityin their regions, and that they were very similar interms of multi-ethnic, multi-religious and multi-cultural harmony fostered by both states. • President of the Parliament of Montenegro IvanBrajović met with Mexican Ambassador MarcoAntonio García Blanco. President Brajović informedthe ambassador about the current political situationand Montenegrin foreign policy priorities andexpressed his interest in intensifying cooperation inthe field of economy, especially the maritimeeconomy, agriculture and the development of smalland medium-sized enterprises. 22 September• Chair of the Committe on Economy, Finance andBudget Predrag Sekulić and member of the CommitteGenci Nimanbegu participated in the InternationalConference on the topic “Transport Connections of

Europe”. The conference, which took place in Tallinn,was organised for the chairpersons of the economicaffairs committees within the parliamentarydimension of the Estonian presidency of the Councilof the European Union.25 September• President of the Parliament of Montenegro IvanBrajović met with Vice Chairman of the NationalCommittee of the People's Political ConsultativeConference (CPPCC) of the PR of China Ma Peihua.After visiting the bridge on Đurđevića Tara and workson the section of the highway Bar-Boljare, Brajovićand Ma spoke about modalities for strengthening ofthe parliamentary cooperation, as a basis for furtherdevelopment of economic cooperation betweenMontenegro and China. Vice Chairman Ma thanked toPresident Brajović on his personal contribution,which he has been giving for years, to developmentof Montenegrin-Chinese relations.26 September• President of the Parliament of Montenegro met withthe First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister ofForeign Affairs of the Republic of Kosovo BehgjetPacolli, who is paying an official visit to Montenegro.They stressed the importance of furtherstrengthening of parliamentary relations, boththrough cooperation of parliamentary bodies andfriendship groups. The meeting with the FriendshipGroup was also attended by Vice President of theParliament Genci Nimanbegu and Chair of theAdministrative Committee Luigi Shkrela. 28 September• Chair of the Committee on European IntegrationAdrijan Vuksanović met with Ambassador of theRepublic of Slovenia to Montenegro H.E. Mitja Močnik.The topic of the meeting was further improvement ofparliamentary cooperation between Slovenia andMontenegro, which was preceded by the recent visitof the Slovenian National Assembly to the Parliamentof Montenegro.• Vice President of the Parliament of MontenegroBranimir Gvozdenović and Head of the FriendshipGroup with the Parliament of Georgia held a meetingwith the non-resident Ambassador of Georgia to
















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CALENDARMontenegro based in Budapest H.E. Zaza Kandelaki.Vice President Gvozdenović and AmbassadorKandelaki exchanged opinions with regard to furtherdevelopment of inter-state relations, especially viathe parliamentary cooperation mechanism withinfriendship groups which exist in both parliaments. • Chair of the Committee on International Relationsand Emigrants met the Austrian Ambassador toMontenegro. Austria will continue to be one of themost prolific advocates of the European Unionenlargement on the basis of the "regatta" principleand the achievements of the candidate countries,Ambassador of the Republic of Austria to MontenegroH.E. Anna Janković. Both sides expressed satisfactionwith the establishment of the Friendship Group withthe Parliament of Austria and the need forstrengthening contacts at the level of the parliamentsof Montenegro and Austria.• Delegation of the European Parliament, led by EP VicePresident Ryszard Czarnecki paid a visit to theParliament of Montenegro. President Brajović spokewith David Martin, Member of the EuropeanParliament and Co-Chair of Delegation to the EU-Montenegro Stabilisation and AssociationParliamentary Committee (SAPC), on numerousinternal and issues from the European agenda ofMontenegro. The interlocutors emphasised theimportance of SAPC, as the most significantcooperation mechanism between the EuropeanParliament and Parliament of Montenegro. Membersof the SAPC parliamentary delegation - Vice PresidentBranimir Gvozdenović and MP Daliborka Pejović alsotook part in the conversation with Davin Martin.Thismeeting was also attended by Željko Aprcović, Chairof the Committee on Political System, Judiciary andAdministration, and Adrijan Vuksanović, Chair of theCommittee on European Integration.

29 September

• President of the Parliament of Montenegro IvanBrajović gave a speech at the opening of inter-parliamentary conference on the topic:“Independent and Modern Public Administration inthe EU and in Enlargement Countries”. Among otherthings, he said that more efficient stateadministration, de-politicisation of public services,increase of the degree of reliability, predictability,accountability and transparency were key segmentsto which we should pay more attention in the periodto come, in order to become a part of so-called:“European administration area”. Željko Aprcović,Chair of the Committee on Political System, Judiciaryand Administration, Adrijan Vuksanović, Chair of theCommittee on European Integration, Marija Ćatović,member of the Committee on Political System,Judiciary and Administration, Mihailo Anđušić,member of the Committee on European Integrationand Jovanka Laličić, member of the Committee onEconomy, Finance and Budget also took part in theConference.

• President of the Parliament of Montenegro IvanBrajović talked with non-residential Ambassador ofthe IR of Iran Hossein Molla Abdollahi onstrengthening parliamentary cooperation as thebest way to establish stronger political andeconomic relations between the two countries. Theinterlocutors agreed that establishment offriendship groups as well as visits at top and highlevel would contribute to strengthening of bilateralrelations.



Documents

NEWSLETTER OPEN PARLIAMENT · cooperation with the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU), and with the support of the OSCE Mission to Serbia and Initiative Open Parliament, organised on