SERBIA and MONTENEGRO, 15 December 2004

Details and Press Materials

The Commission Report was jointly launched by UNDP and the Government of Montenegro on December 15, 2004. The Montenegrin Premier, Mr.Milo Djukanovic, welcomed the launch of the report which, he noted, provides support for the government's reforms. Mr. Djukanovic emphasized that a sustainable private sector is the key to development and reduction of poverty. Other speakers included Mr. Kalman Miszei, Director of the Regional Bureau for Eastern Europe and CIS at UNDP, Mr. Prabal Chakrabarti, a vice president at the Inner City Competitiveness Institute and consultant on the Commission Report, Ms. Martha Honey, executive director of the International Ecotourism Society, and Mr. Oliver Bennett, Chief advisor to the Deloitte&Touche Emerging Markets Group. Mr. Miszei remarked that unleashing entrepreneurship in Montenegro should focus on the strong demand in the tourism sector from European markets.

The UNDP LO in Podgorica/Montenegro is developing an initiative focused on unleashing entrepreneurship in sustainable tourism in regionally disadvantaged areas. This initiative represents a follow-up to UNDP LO Podgorica's successful initiative on developing, through a consultative process, the "Strategic Framework for Sustainable Tourism Development in Central and Northern Montenegro". This initiative has been approved by the Council for Sustainable Development and adopted by the Government of Montenegro in September 2004. UNDP aims to capitalize on its close partnership relationship with important stakeholders in Montenegro and internationally, the South-South cooperation model with Costa Rica, and to continue coordination/cooperation with other donor agencies to unleash sustainable tourism opportunities in Northern Montenegro.

Montenegro is the world's only country to have incorporated into its constitution the declaration that it will be "an ecological state". The government, with assistance from the UNDP and Rockefeller Brothers, has identified three areas - tourism, energy, and timber - where it is striving to implement sustainable practices. In tourism, Montenegro is concentrating on developing small-scale tourism focused on nature and culture, and built around the stunning mountain ranges, lakes, and rural towns. Along the coast, Montenegro continues to pursue a traditional tourism strategy focused on package "sun and sand" tourism to relatively large hotels.

In her presentation, Honey presented survey findings on the strength of the European market for sustainable tourism and showing that ecotourism and nature-based tourism is growing faster than either beach tourism or the market as a whole. She also compared a typical beach resort where leakage of tourism dollars is between 50% and 80% and an eco-resort where 90% or more of the tourist dollar remains in the host country.

The country office also provided a translation of the Commission Report in Serbian.