Press Release: Montenegro joins EU competitiveness programme

Montenegro is the fourth country of the group of candidate and potential candidate countries to join the EU's Competitiveness and Innovation Programme (CIP) after Croatia and the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia in October 2007 and Turkey in February 2008. Under the CIP, the European Commission promotes innovation, entrepreneurship and growth in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). On 3 March, 2008, European Commission Vice President Günter Verheugen and Mr Branimir Gvozdenović, Minister for Economic Development of the Republic of Montenegro, signed a Memorandum of Understanding formalising the Republic’s entry to the Entrepreneurship and Innovation pillar of CIP.