Podgorica, (MINA-BUSINESS) – According to the publication “Competiveness in Southeast Europe 2018”, despite some progress in implementing reforms, Southeast Europe (SEE) still grapples with high levels of unemployment, slow growth rates and a raft of infrastructure problems.
Head of the SEE Department at the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), Marzena Kisielewska, has said that this is the largest publication ever developed by the OECD.
“This is a story of the progress made in the region, but there are still certain challenges to be addressed, in terms of the strengthening of economic governance, inter-sectoral co-ordination and public consultations,” Kisielewska said at a conference organized by the OECD in cooperation with the Ministry of Economy.
According to her, it is necessary to ensure policy coherence, improve policy evaluation of monitoring, provide a level playing field for all market players, including small and medium-sized enterprises, women entrepreneurs and start-ups.
“There are different ways to fulfil these goals. They include the investment in human capital formation, support for digitalized society, improvement of social protection of the most vulnerable groups and, first and foremost, commitment to reforms,” said Kisielewska.
She finds that the cooperation among ministries at both national and local level is vital to the success of the region on the global level.
“Everybody knows now where Montenegro is and how it functions as a state in different fields of economic activities. In this context, you are the most successful country in the region but you should still make use of the publication to improve your performance,” said Kisielewska.
The Director General of the Directorate for Investments, Development of Small and Medium-sized Enterprises and Management of the EU Funds, Radosav Babic, said that the overview of competitiveness would be important for identification of reform priorities and approximation with international standards.
According to him, the Government is working on the improvement of competitiveness in the international investment market, focusing on the efficiency of public administration, reduction of costs and simplification of administrative procedures.
Audrone Urbonaviciute of the Delegation of the European Union to Montenegro said that the candidate countries needed to meet all requirements of the EU clearly defined within the EU enlargement process in order to enter the single market once they had jointed the European Union.
According to her, the industrial and competition policies, and strengthening of competitiveness are of great importance for the Government.
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