Montenegro celebrates Expo participation

Country's president affirms closer ties with China

The president of Montenegro, Filip Vujanovic, paid his first visit to Shanghai to celebrate Montenegro National Pavilion Day at the Expo 2010 Shanghai. This is the second World Expo Montenegro has participated in as an independent country.

"Shanghai is absolutely beautiful and also is an excellent international city with high living standards," said Vujanovic. "I'm honored to witness that Shanghai has turned to be a perfect city equipped with investment opportunities and potential economic growth."

The design of the Montenegro Pavilion, in the Europe Joint Pavilion II in Zone C of the Expo Garden, was inspired by the country's natural scenery.

The exterior of the pavilion is made of metal panels formed into abstract geometric patterns resembling the country's mountain ranges. The interior exhibition showcases forests parks and coastal cities revealing the charm and beauty of the country.

"In our pavilion, I think that the good historical and natural pictures of Montenegro lead tourists to see the historical transition of Montenegro from ancient times to the present," Vujanovic said.

He emphasized that the country's participation in the Expo could build a bridge between Montenegro and China for future relationships and cooperation.

"We're keen to let visitors know the interesting side of Montenegro and attract more investors to our country for further trade cooperation," he said.

Montenegro's landscape is diverse with mountainous peaks bordering Serbia and Albania, a segment of karst in the western Balkan Peninsula, and narrow coastal plains.

"Our country occupies a good geographic location between Western and Eastern countries, Europe and Asia, which could be favored to attract investors from Europe and other countries," Vujanovic said.

Vujanovic is the first president of Montenegro since it split ties with Serbia and became an independent nation in June 2006. He claimed a landslide victory to win his second presidential term in the Montenegrin presidential election in April 2008.

Vujanovic feels confident about the Sino-Montenegro relationship. "I am very proud that Montenegro and China have built very good diplomatic relationships in terms of obtaining success in economic developments for both countries with increasing investments and trade," he said.

Tourism is considered the backbone of future economic growth and government expenditures on infrastructure improvements are largely targeted toward that goal. The Montenegrin government has development plans to establish Montenegro as an elite tourist destination.

"It is a national strategy to make tourism a major, but not the single largest, contributor to the Montenegrin economy," the president said. "Some locations like Jaz Beach, Buljarica, Velika Plaza and Ada Bojana have perhaps the greatest potential to attract future investments and become premium tourist spots on the Adriatic Sea."

More than a million tourists visited Montenegro in 2009, resulting in at least 500 million euros ($614.5 million) in tourism revenue.

During his visit, the president received an embroidery of the famous painter Liu Linghua's work The Drunken Beauty from China Daily as a gift. The gift was provided by Shanghai Chinese Quintessence Art Co Ltd.

(China Daily 05/28/2010 page37)