Montenegro (Montenegrin: Црна Гора/Crna Gora; meaning "Black Mountain" in Montenegrin) is a country located in Southeastern Europe. It has a coast on the Adriatic Sea to the south-west and is bordered by: Croatia to the west, Bosnia and Herzegovina to the northwest, Serbia to the northeast, Kosovo to the east and Albania to the southeast. Its capital and largest city is Podgorica, while Cetinje is designated as the Prijestonica (Пријестоница), meaning the former Royal Capital City.

The thousand year history of the Montenegrin state begins in the 9th century with the emergence of Duklja, a vassal state of Byzantium. In those formative years, Duklja was ruled by the Vojislavljevic dynasty. In 1042, at the end of his 25-year rule, King Vojislav won a decisive battle near Bar against Byzantium, and Duklja became independent. Duklja's power and prosperity reached their zenith under King Vojislav's son, King Mihailo (1046-81), and his son King Bodin (1081-1101).[5]. From the 11th century, it started to be referred to as Zeta. It ended with its incorporation into Raska, and beginning with the Crnojevic dynasty, Zeta was more often referred to as Crna Gora or by the Venetian term monte negro. A sovereign principality since the Late Middle Ages, Montenegro saw its independence from the Ottoman Empire formally recognized in 1878. From 1918, it was a part of various incarnations of Yugoslavia. On the basis of a referendum held on 21 May 2006, Montenegro declared independence on 3 June.

Montenegro is a member of the United Nations, the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, the Council of Europe and CEFTA. Montenegro is also a potential candidate for membership of the European Union and NATO. Montenegro presented its official application to the European Union, with the hopes of gaining EU candidate status by 2011, and applied for a Membership Action Plan on November 5, 2008, with the hopes it would be accepted in 2011. Additionally, Montenegro is a founding member of the Union for the Mediterranean upon its establishment in 2008.

The economy of Montenegro is mostly service-based market economy in late transition. According to IMF, nominal GDP of Montenegro was $4.822 billion in 2008. The GDP PPP for 2008 was $6.944 billion, or $11,111 per capita.

Although GDP grew at impressive 10,7% in 2007, a slowdown is expected due to late-2000s recession.
In 2007, service sector made up for 72,4% of GDP, industry was second largest contributor with 17,6%, trailed by agriculture at 10%.
According to Eurostat data, Montenegrin PPS GDP per capita stood at 46 per cent of the EU average in 2008.
Aluminum and steel production and agricultural processing make up for most of Montenegrin industry.
Tourism is an important contributor to Montenegrin economy. Approximately one million tourists visited Montenegro in 2007, resulting in €480 million of tourism revenue. Tourism is the backbone of future economic development strategy for Montenegro.
The growth of the Montenegrin economy may be hampered by significant dependence on foreign direct investment, and thus susceptibility to external shocks and high export/import trade deficit.

Source: Wikipedia