What are the measures you are taking in order to make sure that Montenegro is strongly linked with Serbia and the rest of the region and the world?
First of all, I would like to thank you for showing interest in Montenegro and its transport sector. The information given by your magazine would be of special importance for Montenegro and for my sector because Montenegro is the entrance, the door of the region, because transport participates with 20 percent in the national income of Montenegro and we are trying to develop all four forms of transport in order to connect the all neighboring countries.
Therefore, Montenegro has maritime, air, railway and road transport. Apart from air transport, all other means of transport were planned for the whole region, not just for Montenegro. In that manner the great Port of Bar was built.
The port now has the capacity of 6 million tons, which could be increased to 10 million tons and its gravity area is, apart from Montenegro, East Bosnia, Serbia with Vojvodina and Kosovo, Macedonia, Hungary, part of Romania and even part of Albania. Therefore, the port should be the entrance to the part of Balkans, first of all for goods and also for passengers.
With the same ambitions and the same capacities the Bar-Belgrade railway was built. It started working in 1976. That is the main railway used as the fastest way of transporting goods from the whole region to the Adriatic and from the port to the inland. The railway also has the capacity of 6 million tons per year with the possibility of increase to 10 million per year.
These projects had great ambitions and what we had achieved before these unfortunate wars was that the Port of Bar had the capacity of 3 200 000 tons overload per year and the railway transported 4.5 million tons per year. Of course, the wars and all misfortunes that have happened in the region and especially sanctions, which hit the economy of both Serbia and Montenegro very hard, had great effect on the port and the railway.
The port was closed for three years so that not even a boat could enter it. The consequence of that was that railway transport has also decreased. When the sanctions were partly lifted and goods started to arrive again, the bombing of Serbia and the destruction of its economy began. Therefore, both port and railway have turned to Montenegrin goods and transit of humanitarian aid to Kosovo. Last year, the Port of Bar overloaded 1 350 000 tons and the railway transported only 702 000 tons. It is a great waste for Montenegro that such capacities are not used.
You have now an important plan to privatize the construction of a new section in the port. Could you tell us more about this project?
I want to emphasize that we have managed to preserve the capacities of both port and railway. As far as the port is concerned, we have even improved many things. It is a new, modern and universal port. It can overload all types of goods. It has special terminals for liquid goods and has 18 tanks for oil. There are also grain silos, cement silos as well as silos for lye used in aluminum production. There are timber terminals of great capacity for drying timber, container terminal, large terminal for travelers, ore terminal, terminal for export and import of cars. Therefore we are talking about a modern and universal port.
As far as the current ownership structure is concerned, 80 percent of the port is owned by the state and the fund and workers own 20 percent. Our privatization ambitions for this port are great. Our intention is to privatize it through additional capitalization, through giving concession and through other ways of privatization. The port has already prepared 20 projects and offered them for foreign capital and joint venture.
The whole Port of Bar has the treatment of free zone. It also has production space, packing, processing. Therefore, it is possible to have machines in the port, to bring row materials, produce and export, free of custom duties.
The port also has large warehouses, which are also intended for privatization and it has a large refrigeration facility a capacity of 8 000 ton, which used to be an independent company and is now merging with the port.
All parts of the port will be ready for foreign investment. We have just finished an international tender for giving 25-year concessions for building a container terminal in Bar. We have received very interesting proposal from a company from Panama. Since, according to our law, the Government gives the concession, the whole business was conducted by this ministry. The proposal of this company is accepted in general terms and now the process of preparing the contract is in progress. The main idea is that this company organizes a container center in Bar like the one in Malta, which would be very much needed when the economies of Serbia, Macedonia and Bosnia will start to revive.
Montenegro and the Port of Bar do not have the capital of its own for new investments. So, the only solution is privatization and foreign capital. The state itself would be interested only for the investments in port infrastructure. Therefore, the financing of a large port break-wall is in progress and is conducted by the port and the Government. But certain port facilities are intended only for this way of financing.
One of the first concerns of a foreign investor is to make sure that, regardless of the political results of Montenegro's independence, the country will keep its strong communication and transport links with Serbia and the other countries of the region. Can you assure foreign investor that this will happen?
I can promise and prove that. Since, in 1997, Montenegro officially distanced itself from the policy of Slobodan Milosevic, we have established very good relations with all neighboring countries, which was a rather difficult task since the relations with Albania, Bosnia and Croatia were very bad due to the policy of the Milosevic regime. We now have very good relations with all these countries. We have opened our borders, established transport, commercial relations, abolished visas for the citizens of the whole world and the citizens of former Yugoslav countries do not even need passports to come to our country. In order to be open, we did not asked for the reciprocity of these actions. We have good relations with Kosovo. There are currently over 60 000 Kosovo Albanians in Ulcinj.
Because of the similarity of people, historical links and common interests, we, who want the independence of Montenegro, think that the closest relations should be with Serbia. We regard these relations as the relations between the Benelux countries, relations between Belgium and Holland. The relations between Serbia and small Montenegro should be like relations between larger Holland and much smaller Luxembourg.
| We believe that the railway and the Port of Bar should be in function of the economy of Serbia, that our coast should be available to whole Europe, including Serbia. The ownership of real estate of Serbian citizens and the houses they have on our coast will be preserved. We believe that we could easily solve the problem of custom services and trade and that we can establish the best possible relations. We think that these relations could be established in the best way between two sovereign countries.
Another aspect is air transport. What are the policies and initiatives that you can take in order to develop the airports and Montenegro Airlines?
First of all, as far as both tourists and businessmen are concerned, Montenegro is an air destination. Therefore, air transport is of special importance for us. Regarding that matter, we used to have very difficult situation even in old Yugoslavia. We did not have a single direct international line; we traveled via Belgrade or via Zagreb. When the sanctions were liberalized towards Montenegro, and Belgrade was still closed, the need for air transport was even greater. Then, we decided to establish our own airline company. We started first with one and then with two Fokker 28 planes. Thanks to the understanding of the European Union, we opened first direct international lines from Montenegro. We started first with Sarajevo, then Banja Luka, Budapest and today we are flying to Rome, Zurich, Ljubljana, Frankfurt, and Vienna. We have the total of seven international destinations and prepare the lines to Amsterdam, London and Paris. This is important for us because of four reasons: tourism, business, our ethnic population living and working in Europe and links with the USA and Australia through these airports.
Our company works with the help of the Government and is not very profitable but has a great multiplicative effect and a great benefit for Montenegro. In this field also, we are ready to talk about privatization, to have additional capitalization of the company, either with money or with airplanes.
We believe that we are an interesting area. Our airplanes are not only used by Montenegrin citizens but by many people from the neighboring countries, especially Bosnia and Albania. As far as the airports are concerned I want to emphasize that there is certain absurd misunderstanding regarding the matter that two of our main airports, here in Podgorica and in Tivat, are owned by JAT. These airports were built by Montenegro and former Yugoslavia. However, when former Yugoslavia broke up, Serbia proclaimed JAT as its own public company and its own property. Yet it is absurd that the Podgorica and Tivat airports would be owned by JAT.
We regarded this issue very seriously and decided to establish our own company Public Enterprise "Montenegro Airports" and the negotiations between the governments of Serbia and Montenegro started about the status of these airports. We were very close to the solution but then the assassination of the director of JAT and the replacement of Milosevic's government came. Recently, we have started to discuss this issue again with the Ministry of Transport of Serbia and new JAT Director, based on the following principle: we want our airports back for using and managing and Montenegro is ready to pay to JAT what it really invested. I think that we are on the right track to resolve this matter and to be in the situation to decide for ourselves about the fate of our airports.
Yesterday, we had an agreement with the USAID about financing the study on the reconstruction of Podgorica and Tivat airports. After that we would launch an international tender for joint investments in these airports together with a foreign partner. According to our position and the Master Plan for the Development of Tourism done by German company EEG, the main airport in Montenegro should be Podgorica airport, which would be, by means of new tunnel built between Podgorica and the seaside, the main tourist airport. Furthermore, Podgorica airport has an exceptionally good climate and geographic condition. There is never any fog or snow here and it is open 365 days of the year. Therefore, it is an alternative airport for Belgrade, Sarajevo, Skopje, etc.
With all these important projects, do you see yourself as the person that is opening Montenegro to the world?
Absolutely, the party I belong to was in favor of this policy from the beginning. My task, as the party representative in this Government is to open Montenegro physically. I was the first Montenegrin politician to visit Sarajevo, Dubrovnik and Ljubljana and establish new ship, bus and air lines with these countries. We want Montenegro to be first of all a Mediterranean country and ever since Phoenicians and Egyptians the Mediterranean was always an open region. In that way, we want to be part of Europe and the world. Therefore, we are open for foreign investments and would like to build these airports together with well known international hotel and trade companies. We want Montenegro to be open in every aspect because if it remains closed it has no chances for development.
It was the main reason for detaching from Milosevic's policy four years ago. While Montenegro was following that policy, it was the time of deterioration. I only want to mention one catastrophic fact. Due to the sanctions, Montenegro has lost its Commercial Fleet.
Now that Montenegro is open for investment, what would be your final message to the readers of Forbes magazine?
First of all, that because of its geographic position, Montenegro is not just a limited area inhabited by only 650 000 citizens but a very important strategic point, from which goods and transport can go towards both east and west. Therefore, I recommend that business people do not regard Montenegro as a small state but as a widely open door for this part of Europe.
Secondly, the consciousness about the necessity to be included in modern international events is dominant in Montenegro, the consciousness that Montenegro is no longer part of Serbia and is no longer part of the policy the world used to have many problems with. Montenegro is the only republic of the former Yugoslavia that did not have a war and will not have it. Therefore, the final message for them would be to come and see Montenegro.
Note: World Investment News Ltd cannot be held responsible for the content of unedited transcriptions. |
V.I.P. INTERVIEWS 
