At today's meeting of the Committee on Economy, Finance and Budget, the results of the project "Strengthening financial oversight of the Parliament of Montenegro" were presented, which had been realised with financial support and cooperation of the Westminster Foundation for Democracy and the British Embassy in Podgorica.

Committee Chairperson, Mr Predrag Sekulić, reminded that the project was initiated in May 2016, when the Memorandum of Understanding between the Parliament of Montenegro and the Westminster Foundation for Democracy was signed. He said that during the two-year project period, researchers from the Parliamentary Budget Office provided expert and technical support to parliamentary committees and MPs while analysing complex documents related to public finance, and that the Office satisfied expectations.

During the meeting, H.E. Ms Alison Kemp, Ambassador of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland to Montenegro, Mr Aleksandar Jovićević, Secretary General of the Parliament of Montenegro and Mr Emil Atanasovski, Westminster Foundation for Democracy's Regional Representative for the Western Balkans, have, among other things, noted that: the project has been successfully implemented, it was necessary to continue strengthening the oversight role of the parliament and the possibility of organisational integration of the Budget Office within the Parliament's service needed to be considered. It was also pointed out that the establishment of the Budget Office, bearing in mind previous strengthening of the capacity of the parliamentary service and the introduction of the practice for all interested committees to consider the proposal for the budget in the domain of the areas of their responsibility, would significantly contribute to the improvement of the parliamentary oversight of the budget.