Providing support for political and economic reform as part of EU accession negotiations is the central pillar of bilateral relations.

Several projects supported by Germany promote efforts to implement reform in Montenegro and to strengthen the country’s administrative structures, in particular in the field of judicial and administrative reform, reform of labour administration and the strengthening of competition monitoring.

Since Montenegro gained its independence, good and successful development cooperation has been established with the country, which Germany has been involved in as the largest bilateral donor. The following areas are focuses of development policy cooperation, mainly in the form of projects supported by Kreditanstalt für Wiederaufbau (KfW) and the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ): the promotion of public infrastructure, particularly in the energy sector, and the increasing of energy efficiency; the supply of drinking water and treatment of waste water; the environmental sector and the sphere of boosting business and employment opportunities, in particular for SMEs.

The EU supports the European integration of Montenegro, for example by means of the Instrument for Pre-accession Assistance (IPA). The IPA is used to promote projects in the fields of the rule of law, human rights, good governance, the Green Deal and sustainability, competitiveness and inclusive growth. By means of the EU Growth Facility for the Western Balkans, the EU will make available further funding for reform projects to implement the reform agenda Montenegro has presented to the European Commission.

A cultural agreement with Montenegro has been in place since July 2024. There has been a cooperative partnership between the University of Nikšić’s German Department and the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) since 2007 with a DAAD academic teacher working at the department. German scholarship and exchange programmes are also very popular.

The Central Agency for Schools Abroad is running the programme that enables pupils to acquire the German Language Certificate at two schools where some of its programme teachers from Germany are also working. The Goethe-Institut provides Montenegro with cultural and language services from its offices in Belgrade.