Economic Conference Montenegro 2018 , organized by the Chamber of Economy of Montenegro, took place on the 25th and 26th October in Budva in Montenegro. It is one of the most important economic events in the region. The two-day conference, titled “Balkans and the European Union – a five-year cycle of the Berlin Process”, contributed to strengthening regional cooperation in the ongoing process of European integration of the countries of the region.

The conference has been officially opened by the President of Montenegro Milo Đukanović, the Chancellor of Austria Sebastian Kurz and the President of the Chamber of Economy of Montenegro Vlastimir Golubović.

A number of panel discussions took place at the conference. The participants of the panel “Economic and European perspective for the Balkans” were Prime Ministers of the Western Balkans countries: Montenegro, Kosovo, Macedonia and Serbia. They expressed great interest in enhancing European and regional economic cooperation and harmonization of market regulations.

The President of the Forum of the Adriatic and Ionian Chambers of Commerce and the Vice President of the Croatian Chamber of Economy for construction, transport and communications Mirjana Čagalj participated at the panel “The role of the Chambers of Economy in the promotion of European values and strengthening economic relations”. She emphasized the importance of the European Union for the countries of the Western Balkans in terms of bringing peace and security as well as increasing market competitiveness.

“If our goal is a higher level of stability, we have to offer a credible opportunity of enlargement to the Western Balkans countries and by doing so the commodity exchange is going to increase. European values are something that is shared among the member countries, their citizens, businesses, chambers of economy and their associations. Forum of the Adriatic and Ionian Chambers of Commerce is a network that consists of 46 chambers from eight countries with about 1.800.000 companies and it has been defined by the European Commission as one of the key stakeholders of the European Strategy for the Adriatic and Ionian Macroregion”, Mirjana Čagalj highlighted.

Ministers of economy and finance of the countries of the region, representatives of international financial institutions, investors as well as the representatives of some of the most successful companies from this part of the Balkans also participated.