Eight million EUR to Montenegrin partners within the Adriatic-Ionian program

Podgorica, (MINA) - Institutions and organizations from Montenegro achieved notable success within the first call of the IPA Adriatic-Ionian Program (IPA ADRION), through which 61 of them will be supported with around eight million EUR.

This was announced at the initial meeting with project partners organized by the Ministry of European Affairs (MEP).

"The Montenegrin partners achieved an outstanding result within the first call, as they were granted twice as much funding as during the entire previous perspective of IPA II," said Miloš Marković, Acting Director General of the Directorate for European Funds in the MEP.

According to him, this is proof of the quality work and capacity of the users, who have shown serious commitment and recognition in the Adriatic-Ionian region.

"MEP, as before, will be available to all users as support in the implementation of projects," said Marković.

During the meeting, as announced by the MEP, the users presented the projects and activities they will implement.

It is added that the Ministry presented the types of support that, in cooperation with the Joint Secretariat, it provides in order to successfully implement projects.

As stated, the Interreg IPA ADRION program is aimed at the cooperation of countries in the Adriatic-Ionian region, and is co-financed by the European Union.

In addition to Montenegro, Italy, Greece, Croatia, Slovenia, Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, North Macedonia, Serbia and San Marino are participating in the program.

Within the first call, 67 projects with a total value of around EUR 85 million were conditionally approved, while Montenegrin partners participate in 54 projects.

The projects supported under the first call are aimed at strengthening resistance to climate change, natural and man-made disasters (14 projects), supporting the development of the circular economy in the Adriatic-Ionian region (eight projects).

It is stated that the projects supported within the first call are moderated in support of environmental protection (13 projects), support of sustainable multimodal urban mobility (seven projects) and strengthening of smart and carbon-neutral mobility (six projects).

As the MEP said, it is expected that the project contracting procedure will be completed by September.