CITY OF NIS – THE CHAMPION OF LOCAL DEVELOPMENT
July 3rd
The City of Niš has been awarded the Local Development Champion Award for 2018/19 for best practice in attracting investors. In the framework of the joint project by NALED and the Development Agency of Serbia, awards were given to prominent individuals, towns and municipalities that contributed to the development of local self-governments, and besides Niš, awards were given to Šabac, Bečej and Kruševac. The awards were presented by the Vice President of the Government of Serbia and the Minister of Construction, Transport and Infrastructure Zorana Mihajlović and the Minister of State Administration and Local Self-Government Branko Ružić, and on behalf of the City of Niš this prestigious award, which testifies about the readiness and ability of Niš to respond to the needs of the investors and businessmen and to create a positive business environment, was received by the Nis City Council Member for Economy Mihajlo Zdravkovic. “This is another award that proves that we are doing the right thing. Thanks to the full support from the Republic, we were ready to welcome investors and managed to open new factories. Our results are not just on paper, they are visible everywhere around us. On the present day, the number of unemployed in Nis is 26 041, which is 10 000 less than it was in 2012. Of course, this award shows us once again that we should continue to work as before. This is a new incentive, in addition to the award that we recently received from the Financial Times, and I believe that in the coming period we will have successful results, “Zdravkovic said. The awards of Local Development Championships were presented at the National Conference during the Local Economic Development, which included the results of the research on the capacities of local self-governments for local economic development, conducted in the framework of the joint project by NALED and the Development Agency of Serbia. Also, at the meeting, new mechanisms for supporting municipalities and cities were discussed to attract investments, establish better cooperation with the existing economy and tradition in choseing occupations in the function of economic development.