Better Living Condition and Business for over 60,000 Citizens of Montenegro with Support of Norway

State Secretary Lipovina-Božovic, your Excellency, representatives of the ministries and line institutions, dear colleagues from UNOPS, dear grant beneficiaries, ladies and gentlemen

I am very glad to be here with you today to witness the results of the project “Norway for You - Montenegro”, funded by the Kingdom of Norway and implemented by UNOPS, one of the agencies of the UN family in Montenegro and a member of our UN Country Team.

In the last three years, this initiative brought valuable support to local businesses throughout Montenegro, and the relevance of this project is particularly pronounced due to the devastating effect that the COVID pandemic had and still has on the local economy, especially on small businesses and employment, but also on Montenegro’s less developed municipalities in general.

Apart from support provided to developing capacities of the institutions at the national level, we in the UN team consider it equally important to provide support at the local level and to regional stakeholders. Furthermore, this project showcased that direct support can create immediate visible results and rippling effect, aligned with strategic objectives of the country.

That is why in our UNCT Annual Progress Report for 2020, the project “Norway for You - Montenegro” is recognized as one of the key initiatives contributing to Economic Governance Strategic priority, as part of the efforts of Montenegro in achieving Sustainable Development Goals. 

Therefore, on behalf of the UN team in Montenegro, I wish to warmly thank Norwegian Embassy for supporting this important initiative, but also to our sister agency UNOPS for the efficient implementation and tangible results of the project.

UNOPS makes an important part of the UN family in Montenegro, a well synchronized and coherent team, which continues to strongly support the country’s European path but also Montenegro’s efforts in achieving 17 Sustainable Development Goals.

Let me close by wishing to all project beneficiaries and stakeholders success in further socio-economic recovery and I hope that we as UN team here in Montenegro will have more opportunities to contribute to it.