Jakov Milatović was born in Podgorica on December 7, 1986. He completed primary, secondary school and faculty in Podgorica. As a US government scholarship holder, he spent one academic year at Illinois State University. After that, he spent one semester at Vienna University of Economics and Business (WU Wien) as a scholarship holder of the Austrian Government. Under the auspices of the European Commission, he spent one year of study at La Sapienza University in Rome. He earned his master’s degree in the field of economics at the University of Oxford and he was also awarded a scholarship by the British Government.
He attended programs organized by the United Nations in New York, German Konrad Adenauer Foundation, Embassy of Montenegro in Rome and Office for International Cooperation of the Faculty of Economics in Podgorica. He also attended the Oxbridge Academic Program at Oxford, and a number of International Monetary Fund (IMF) Programs in London, as well as London School of Economics (LSE) Programs. He also trained at the University of Beijing, University of Belgrade and Leadership Academy of Stanford University. He worked in the banking sector in the country and abroad. In the sector for economic and political analysis at the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), he dealt with the economic analysis of the region of Southeast Europe and countries of the Western Balkans. He worked in Bucharest as the EBRD’s Chief Economic Analyst for Romania, Croatia, Slovenia and Bulgaria from 2018 to 2020.
In the fall of 2022, he was a guest lecturer at the Luxembourg Business School. He is the author of several professional papers and co-author of two books.
He was elected Minister of Economic Development in the 42 nd Government of Montenegro in December 2020. In June 2022, he founded the Europe Now Movement! and he is one of the leaders of that movement. After the success of the electoral list he led in the local elections in Podgorica, he ran in the presidential elections. He assumed the office of President of Montenegro on May 20, 2023.
He speaks English, Italian and Spanish.
He is married and father of three children.
The 2BS (To Be Secure) Forum is a leading politico-security forum in Southeast Europe (SEE) that has been shaping national, regional, and international security frameworks since its inception in 2011. As the flagship event of the Atlantic Council of Montenegro, it provides an exceptional and unique platform for prominent political figures, as well as international organizations representatives, academia, security experts, business leaders, renowned global think tanks, NGO experts and innovators to generate ideas and solutions to effectively tackle and overcome the prevailing global challenges pertaining to security and stability.