Aside from members of the Committee, the meeting was attended by the following in their capacity of authorised representative of the proposer: Mr Nikola Vukićević, Director of Directorate for Budget at the Ministry of Finance and his associated Ms Tamara Ivković, coordinator at the Directorate for Budget and Ms Lidija Špadijer, independent advisor in the Directorate for Budget.
Also, the meeting was attended by representatives of line ministries: Ms Smiljana Prelević, Secretary of the Ministry of Science, Mr Igor Vučinić, Secretary of the Ministry of Culture, Ms Dragica Milić, Director General of the Directorate for Cultural and Artistic Production, and Ms Tatjana Bulatović, Secretary of the Ministry of Sports.
The Secretary of the Ministry of Science expressed satisfaction with the significant increase in budget funds for the consumer unit Ministry of Science, compared to the previous year, even by 63%. She referred to three strategic policies of the Ministry in the implementation of the envisaged budget. The first policy focuses on improving human resources working on research and innovative reforms, the second is the financing of scientific and research projects, while the third one is the creation of better conditions for self-employment.
Secretary of the Ministry of Culture Mr Igor Vučinić was also satisfied because of the fact that 2018 Proposal for Budget complied with a legal obligation to allocate 2.5% of the current budget to the Ministry of Culture and cultural institutions.
Secretary of the Ministry of Sports Ms Tatjana Bulatović stressed that the budget funds for this consumer unit remained approximately the same, slightly increased in comparison with the previous year, and she expressed satisfaction with it. She said that while working on the Proposal for the Law, they had achieved a constructive cooperation with the Ministry of Finance.
Following the detailed discussion, the Committee noted the Proposal for the 2018 Budget Law of Montenegro was acceptable in the part relating to consumer units: Ministry of Education, Ministry of Science, Ministry of Culture and Ministry of Sport.
The Committee has postponed the continuation of the discussion on the Proposal for the 2018 Budget Law of Montenegro, in part relating to the consumer unit Ministry of Education for 11 December 2017, when the Ninth meeting will be continued. On that occasion the opinion on this draft law will also be the topic.
