Predrag Bošković (; born 12 March 1972) is škovića Montenegrin politician and sports administrator. Currently he is a member of the Parliament of Montenegro, and the former Minister of Defence of Montenegro. Bošković is an economist and has been involved in politics since 1997. He was a member of the Montenegrin Parliament, the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs in the Government of Serbia and Montenegro. He served also as Minister of Economy, as Minister of Labor and Social Welfare and as Minister of Education in various Montenegrin governments.
Concurrently, he is the Vice-President of the European Handball Federation and member of the International Handball Federation Council.
Early life and education
Predrag Bošković was born in Pljevlja, Yugoslavia, as the second child in the family of Milenko and Milana Bošković.One year before he was born his parents and brother Dragan were supposed to move to Germany, but they ultimately decided to stay in Pljevlja . Father Milenko has greatly influenced Predrag's life and still remains an important source of his inspiration.
At the age of 7, Bošković moved to Podgorica where he finished both primary and high school. Even though he was keen on pursuing career in electrical engineering, he graduated in 1996 from the Faculty of Economics at the University of Montenegro. As a student he was actively involved in the work of the Entrepreneurial club at the Faculty of Economics.
He started his academic career as a Teaching Assistant at the Faculty of Economics, University of Montenegro, where he thought courses in Statistics and Econometrics. This is still the main area of his research interests. In 1999, he received his master's degree at the Faculty of Economics, University of Belgrade.
Bošković successfully completed many educational trainings in the areas of economics and econometrics. The most important training was the one on the Time series and predictions of election results, organized by the Central European University (CEU) in Budapest in October 1997.
Before devoting most of the time to his political career he published several papers in both domestic and international journals.
Political career
Bošković became a member of the Democratic Party of Socialists (DPS) in 1997, and was the president of the DPS Youth club from 1998-2002. Achieved results recommended him for the later responsible positions in Montenegrin politics.
The general public learned about Boskovic in mid-2001 when, as president of the DPS Youth Club and a member of the Parliament of Montenegro, he announced a lawsuit against the newspaper Dan for a text claiming he was a volunteer in the Croatian War of Independence as a member of the Serbian National Renewal and a paramilitary White Eagles unit. Up to this day, he has not filed a lawsuit against Dan. According to Monitor, Bošković's acquaintances then recalled that Bošković was committed to the Greater Serbia project and that he demonstrated this at the Faculty of Economics in Podgorica, wearing a conspicuously large silver ring engraved with a Serbian cross.
In 2000 he became a member of the Podgorica City Council and later a member of the Montenegrin Parliament from 2001-2004, after which he got elected the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs in the Government of Serbia and Montenegro. During his term as the Deputy Minister (April 2004 – November 2005) he represented the country during many international visits..In June 2005, Boskovic delivered a speech on the importance of non-proliferation of weapons of mass destruction in front of the United Nations General Assembly. He also took part in numerous bilateral meetings with high representatives of many foreign countries from all over the world.
From November 2005 to September 2006 he served as the Minister of Economy in the Government of Montenegro.
From September 2006 to August 2008 he was the president of the Board of Directors of Montenegrobonus (a prominent Montenegrin oil and gas trade company).
In August 2008 he was elected the president of the Coalmine "Pljevlja".The company had suffered major losses for many consecutive years prior to his appointment. Bošković immediately introduced many organizational and strategic changes, and as a result the company started to incur profits. Moreover, the company is one of the most successful companies in Montenegro today.
In December 2012 he was elected Minister of Labor and Social Welfare. He remained at this position until March 2015, when he became Minister of Education.
On the 28th of November 2016 he was elected as Minister of Defense of the Republic of Montenegro, leaving his previous post as Minister of Education.