Mr. Vladimir Jokić, the Mayor of Kotor and Ms Stella Arneri, Head of the Agency for Regional Development and the Managing Authority of the Interreg IPA Cross-Border Cooperation Programme Croatia-Bosnia and Herzegovina-Montenegro 2014-2020 signed yesterday in Dubrovnik a contract for the implementation of the project entitled “BACAR Better Access to Growth: Clusters and Competitiveness – Networking in the Adriatic region”.  

The BACAR project has been approved for funding in the framework of the 1st Call for Proposals under the abovementioned trilateral program. The signing ceremony was attended by Mr. Nikola Dobroslavić, Dubrovnik-Neretva County Prefect and Ms. Nikolina Klaić, the State Secretary of the Ministry of Regional Development and EU Funds.

BACAR is the only project approved for funding in the framework of the 1st Call for Proposals of Interreg-IPA Cross-Border Cooperation Programme for Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Montenegro 2014-2020 in which a Montenegrin applicant is the lead partner, which is a great success and one more good reference for the Municipality of Kotor when it comes to obtaining EU funding.

The total project budget for all the partners is EUR 1,020,000.00. The project’s objective is to provide the support for the development of entrepreneurship through strengthening institutional infrastructure, to encourage the SME clustering and promote enterprises through developing online business.

In Montenegro, the partner of the Municipality of Kotor is the Chamber of Economy of Montenegro.

The budget for the Municipality of Kotor is EUR 215,000.00, while that of the Chamber of Economy is EUR 92,600.00.

The Croatian project partner is the Public Institution RERA SD for Development of Split-Dalmatia County, while in Bosnia and Herzegovina the partners are the Ministry of Economy of Herzegovina-Neretva Canton and the Chamber of Commerce of the Republic of Srpska – Regional Chamber of Commerce Trebinje.

Given that the specific objective of this programme priority is to strengthen the institutional infrastructure and services in order to enhance competitiveness and develop business environment in the programme area, part of the funding, to the amount of EUR 33,700.00, will be devoted to adapting the Cultural Centre Kotor for the needs of the Business Support Centre in the field of creative industry, as one of the three regional business centres.

In all the three countries (in the pilot areas of Kotor-Boka Kotorska, Mostar County and Trebinje, Split-Dalmatia County), three clusters will be established and/or strengthened. The clusters are in the sectors of creative industry, tourism and agricultural, small-scale, production and processing (fruits, vegetables, medicinal plants).

The Municipality of Kotor, being the project lead partner, will ensure that all the activities are implemented using the same methodology and that positive experiences or issues relevant to all the countries are shared and communicated between the cross-border partners.

The project has a great regional importance for business networking/clustering in the three mentioned sectors.

The model develop by the Kotor Municipality during this project will be a positive example of regional business clustering and networking, and it will contribute to enhancing cooperation between the three regions, and providing a common approach to third markets.

(Municipality of Kotor – Mayor’s Cabinet)