Name: Montenegro: Small Nation, Big Ambitions
Uploaded: 2025-10-28
Duration: 17 min 5 s

At just 37, Montenegro's prime minister is one of the world's youngest leaders. Milojko Spajić's ambitious agenda includes reforming the country's energy, tourism, and technology sectors, stabilizing regional relationships, and attracting foreign investment. Can Spajić's coalition government overcome political instability o provide an example for other countries—and position Montenegro as next in line for EU membership.

Montenegro: Small Nation, Big Ambitions

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Hello once again and hello your Excellency the Prime Minister of Montenegro Maloco Speic. It's uh we were discussing backstage is he the youngest head of government in the world or in Europe or not? We're not sure because we think maybe the Icelandic Prime Minister anyway, either way, one of the youngest in the world and you are leading the government of a small European nation, but you want that nation to open up to the world. How do you want to achieve that? What's your plan? Absolutely. I think also the what what it counts for is a relevant experience and the people the age is also like uh became a relevant thing. You have many leaders in the world who are uh younger but you know, have, have a good experience, a relevant experience, and I think this is, this is what counts eventually. Obviously, uh, Montenegro is a country which is a very ethnically diverse country that is probably in Europe is the most ethnically diverse. We don't have a majority, ethnic majority. We don't have a religious clear majority. So we had to get our act together and uh and the chances you either become a great nation that has, that can reach out to everybody that is welcoming everybody. I always mention Singapore as an example because Singapore became like uh Asia for beginners, right? So it's uh it's a country that welcomes all kinds of cultures that is, that is, uh, uh, easy for foreigners to adapt to, to, to be productive and efficient. And this is how I see Montenegro becoming in the region of Balkans in Eastern Europe. Yeah, you lowered corporate tax, corporation tax, wage taxes. You're trying to attract essentially international investment into Montenegro and companies to come set up bases in Montenegro. Can you expand on that? You know, our tax policy is very simple. We think the people that tie their destiny to Montenegro, be it investors, employees. Uh, workers, managers, whoever is, is kind of invested, invested into Montenegro's, uh, success, we give them tax benefits. And obviously we live from tourism as well and the people have to, you know, uh, when they visit our country they pay VAT and excise tax, etc. and this is where we earn our fair share of the revenues for the country. But the people who really vet there and invest themselves into Montenegro are the people we lower the, uh, the, the tax rates for them. So CIT, you mentioned corporate income tax is among the lowest in Europe and soon it will be the lowest. Uh, PIC contribute various kinds of contributions that form uh labor tax wedge, and we have by far the lowest labor tax wedge in Europe. And the reason is again because the people who come to Montenegro to tie their destiny to Montenegro, we want them to be benefiting from this. So can you give us some concrete examples? For example, since these taxes were lowered. Uh, concrete examples of corporations of foreign investment, uh, into Montenegro that have made a difference in terms of growth for the Montenegrin economy. So we are still like as a government we are around for two years and uh first, obviously we need, we needed to make preconditions for the investments to come to Montenegro. So I think we have fulfilled most of it. We still a little remains I think end of this year we'll have another. Uh, round of reforms that will be, that will be also very pro-business, but, uh, basically we have in energy and tourism, these are the two biggest uh pillars of our economy, and we have seen the biggest interest as well. So we have some big names, for example, EDF, French, uh, one of the biggest, uh, electric utility companies. We are working on a big hydropower project. Montenegro is very blessed in hydropower. And we just to put it easily and bluntly, we are like a small Norway in that sense. We have and uh what's different from Norway is that our hydropower plants are not there yet. We have untapped resources and hydro is good because it's renewable #1 and #2, because it's a base load, uh, it's a base load electric power. So it helps balance out the volatility of solar, of wind and other renewables. So it's easier to manage the renewables if you have hydro input, and we have the only export link between the eastern or uh between the Balkans and Italy and the Western Europe, Central Europe is through Montenegro. So we and on a daily basis we have this subsea cable that we have installed a couple of years back and it's working very well. We want to double the capacity. So Terna is another big investor in Montenegro's Italian, one of the biggest world's biggest transmission. Electric transmission companies we have uh Mazdar from UAE is also very interested, etc. etc. in energy field in the field of tourism we have one and only, uh, we have, uh, Amman, we have, uh, we have, uh, Regent and many others who have, uh, Four Seasons who's now interested in, etc. So these are sorry, can you give us a forecast in terms of what, um, the tourism industry contributes to GDP growth in Monten. and where you see it going and and I guess how as well I know one of the things you were telling me is that you dropped visa requirements for Saudi nationals, so Saudi nationals can go to Montenegro, uh, with no visa requirements absolutely, you know, it's it's, it's a sort of a. A show of respect of Montenegrins towards the Saudi citizens, and this is something that we really hold dearly. I know that most of the people that would that would come to Montenegro would have Schengen UK US visa anyway. So with these visas you would be able to enter even if you would have visa system in place. But it's a sign of respect. It's a sign of us saying you guys are very welcome in Montenegro to do business, to uh visit our country, to, uh, to, you know, uh, see our culture, see for Montenegro what it is, and, uh, I would take this opportunity to call all these Saudi friends to come and see for themselves and uh. And Montenegro and this was following a visit by His Excellency, the Minister of Tourism, we had a conversation with uh earlier on this day. And have you seen a difference since you have, uh, you know, put in, put in strategies in Montenegro to attract more tourism. Have you seen a difference in terms of the industry? We see some early signs, obviously, but this is, as I said, it's not a matter of like just pure accounting matter plus and minus. It's also a sign of respect and deep investment in a long term relationship. So, uh, this is how we operate and how we want to be seen. And for us this, uh, you know, the visa-free regime despite the big pressure from Brussels to align our visa policies with EU visa policy, which is obviously something that we constantly negotiate and have to have to think about, but in, in regards for us, this is a very important relationship that we just want to honor. And in terms of tourism, you mentioned and uh you know I think uh Montenegro's tourism and the energy strategies, we have one of the lowest uh uh or actually in Europe, the lowest electricity price. And uh energy, why electrical power is so important and it's, it's a base for building many other industries. For example, data centers, this is a big topic these days that we discussed and we would love to invite uh data center investors and the people interested in using the capabilities and the use cases of Montenegro. Because of the such a, you know, we have very cheap electricity. #1 and #2, we have mountains which are which have a climate very similar to Norwegian climate. So it makes all the sense to to base some of the some of the data centers there and we have this connectivity with Italy through. subsea cable and through the Trans-B Balkan and across European corridors we are interconnected with most of Europe. One of the issues with data centers, and there have been complaints from residents who live around data centers is that they pollute and that they use a lot of water. What about environmental concerns? We take environmental concerns very seriously, so. I, I'm a Japanese student, so I did my undergraduate in Japan and uh you know, in their constitution, they have, you know, they're not to have an army. And uh they came up with the GAI, which is self-defense force, basically kind of replace it. So they take constitution very seriously, you know, they're very, very serious about it. We take our constitution that was made in 1990s, uh, and we are the first ecological state in the world by constitution. So we take our own constitution very seriously and, uh, every project that we make has to be in line with the the highest ecological standards and as I said, the benefits of being located in the, you know, some of the cooler areas like mountains, etc. is exactly you don't need so much water for cooling. So this is the biggest benefit of of the of the uh Montenegro picking up Montenegro as as a data center location as as I said, uh, we also are welcoming, it's very easy to uh catch the talent not only from Montenegro, which is a small HR pool, to be honest. But from the whole region of uh of the Balkans and Eastern Europe where you know that we have a lot of engineering talent. So I think we can be a really, really we can build a good base for the tourism as, as, as we, we just concluded, but also for energy and Application of energy such as data centers and the new technologies. I find it interesting the notion that you have a small HR pool which is just because your population is small. So how do you compensate for that as a small country? Openness as in people can come and establish themselves as working, contributing to the economy of Montenegro. We don't have ethnic majority, so people are welcoming foreigners and welcoming, uh. Because that's an issue in some EU countries, as you know, a lot of popular resistance against immigration. Obviously immigration has to be, uh, has to be tackled very carefully and this is some, this is, uh, uh, this is a big topic and it's serious topic that needs to go undergo a lot of considerations and. Has to be managed very, very, very well. So if you manage things well, obviously I think it's uh you can get much more benefits than the downside, especially because now we see the a lot of regional folks, uh, from the region, uh, or from the wider region, uh, they, they tend to come to Montenegro and they, they do very well in Montenegro, so we, we are, as I said, we are very diverse. Already and uh I think this is a big plus for, for us. On this HR pool fetching because your population is very small, right? It's 700, 600,000,000,000 at any point of time, probably around half a million people live in Montenegro, Montenegro, right? And so, but you feel like there is room there to kind of add to that through immigration, through companies investing from the outside, you know, I mean for us we, as I said, if you. Get a big investments you need uh people who would be able to to kind of lead these investments and to have uh an HR pool is something that is definitely a limiting factor for us. So yes, we are, we are very keen to uh to bring uh smartest and brightest of the world there. Welcome to Montenegro. I saw you have meetings here and you're meeting with high level officials. What is it that you're trying to achieve as the prime minister of a country like Montenegro? I'm trying to introduce Montenegro as is in the, in the best possible light that I can, obviously, and this is it, you know, I think, uh, as I said in the beginning, I would like to welcome people to Montenegro. I would love to host them. I would like to show them all the potentials. And I would like them to see for themselves, you know, because seeing is believing, and, uh, you know, this is, this is something that we, they this leap of faith is something they definitely should take. What is it, what is the one thing that you want people to know about your country? One thing that the most important message that you'd like to send out. About Montenegro is exactly this openness that I keep talking about is, is uh is that we are a country that offers a lot, many opportunities. We don't, we don't want, we are not asking for things. We are asking for collaboration, we are asking for partnerships. And that's it. We're not, uh, I wanna pick up on one thing you said about the EU putting pressure. So I mean what kind of pressure in terms of they want Montenegro to align itself in terms of its visa policy is that obviously it's not pressure that's changing your, your, your policy or your approach, but how do you navigate that? You know, it's uh EU is a big market and it's uh obviously our strategic orientation and uh we are the front runner in uh in that uh accession process and we are the closest to join the EU. So we should by the end of 26, we will close all the chapters and we will be fully ready to join the EU. We'll be fully aligned with the European acquis, etc. So obviously, like if, if you want to benefit from the single market of half a billion. Relatively wealthy people, you have to follow some rules. Will that change your Saudi visa policy, this is, you know, but definitely, but again there are things that are priority national interest, and they are, they are obviously once you join, uh, Schengen, etc. there's, uh, there's there's no space for negotiations, but as long as there are space for negotiations like now, we are always going to, to, uh. To defend our national interests and the things that we hold dearly to ourselves. So the goal is EU membership and then the euro. We already use euro for more than 20 years and uh we are in a in a specific situation where we are quasi eurozone member uh we are NATO member, so uh we, we are in SEPA, so all the settlements and payments and transactions that happen, they, they happen without the fees. Uh, with European countries, so we are the first country outside the European Economic Area to join SEPA. We are part of, we're gonna be part of, uh, very soon from, uh, uh, from the next year, part of the telco, uh, so we are becoming increasingly part of the European common market and obviously like, uh, we want to benefit from the big market but at the same time, as I said, it's very important that we, we also keep some of the national interests. And every country, like every country in Europe, does that. It's interesting you use the euro, but you're not part of the Eurozone. So how does that work exactly? You know, to be formally part of the Eurozone, you have to follow some of the, some of the steps. So once, once we are in the EU, there'll be a process of like lasting 2 or 3. Years that we will need to undertake to become formally part of Eurozone, but we use euros as the only currency, so we are interesting. It's another thing what's probably for investors why Montenegro is interesting is because for us we live in a quasi gold standard. For us, euro is gold, basically. So to acquire euros we need to sell, uh, we either need to sell our assets, uh, services or goods. So we need to uh give some something something real in return for euros, which makes the pricing of Montenegro assets fair. And not inflated by the QEs of the past. So this is a big difference between Montenegro using euro and Eurozone members using euros that basically get inflation of the assets by virtue of the QE. So one of the, one of the reasons why Montenegro is a good investment opportunity is because we are reasonably priced. All right, well, Prime Minister, thank you very much for that. It was a really interesting conversation on a country that doesn't often get discussed on the global stage, but you really wanna open it up, attract investors, and attract tourists, and hopefully some of you will visit. Thanks so much. Thank you.