The highway is a priority when it comes to infrastructure projects between Montenegro and Serbia, announced Finance Minister Aleksandar Damjanović and added that cooperation in the field of payment transactions is something that needs to be addressed urgently.
He was a guest on the Pulse of Serbia show on Kurir TV, as part of his visit to Belgrade, and said that the payment transaction between the two countries is still an unresolved issue.
– For some 15 or 20 years, since Montenegro introduced the euro as a currency, we have not had direct payment transactions with Serbia, and our citizens have to pay an additional price to foreign banks. It would be good to try to see what the models are for solving that issue – said Damjanović.
He reminded that Montenegro recently passed a new Law on Payment Transactions, which is harmonized with European legislation.
– This will significantly liberalize and decentralize the payment transaction, i.e. the Central Bank of Montenegro will not be the owner of the payment transaction, as before – Damjanović added.
According to him, Serbia formed a postal savings bank a long time ago, within its Post.
– Montenegro has a Post Office, but no postal savings bank. It is interesting for us that our Posta will also partially grow into a postal savings bank and provide payment services. Maybe that could be the solution to that direct payment transaction, we’ll see – said Damjanović.
When it comes to the highway, Damjanović announced that this infrastructure project should be urgently continued from Kolašin to the border with Serbia.
– Serbia somewhere expressed its intention to do this with the section from Požega to the border, so those two sections should be joined and finally a highway built after I don’t know how many tens of years. That was the dream of the citizens of both countries, which means that someone from Belgrade will be in Podgorica in a few hours, or vice versa – explained Damjanović.
He reminded that Montenegro has completed perhaps the most difficult section from Podgorica to Kolašin, noting that there is no reason not to reconsider all possible models of how and in what way to continue. Damjanović, commenting on the economic cooperation between the two countries, assessed that it could be significantly better and that there is huge room for improvement.
Speaking about the field of games of chance, Damjanović stated that Serbia has significantly increased revenues in that segment, so in accordance with the experience of its neighbors, Montenegro will also try to improve that area.
During the visit of the Montenegrin delegation to Belgrade, joint infrastructure projects, trade and energy will be discussed.
