VISIT TO TWIN CITY KOSICE

May 09^th

At the invitation of the Mayor of Kosice, Mr. Jaroslav Polacek, the representatives of the City of Nis, participated in a joint meeting of partner twin cities organized in Kosice, from May 5-7.The occasion for this meeting was the celebration of the 650^th anniversary of the awarding of the coat of arms to the city of Kosice, thus making the city the oldest one with the official coat of arms in Europe. The meeting was also the part off the jubilee celebration of the Day of the City of Kosice. The cities of Nis and Kosice signed the Twinning Agreement in 2001. Kosice is the second largest city in Slovakia, the cultural and economic center of the eastern part of the state and the administrative center of the Kosice region. Kosice is known as the Slovak city with the largest old urban city core, and it the first European city to receive its coat of arms (1369). In 2013, the city was proclaimed the European Capital of Culture, and in 2019 it was the first city in Central and Eastern Europe to be declared the European capital of volunteering. In May, the City of Kosice will host the World Ice Hockey Championship. The City of Nis presented itself to the hosts together with the cities of Ostrava – Czech Republic, Abaújszántó, Miskolc and Budapest  – Hungary, Katowice,  Krosno and Rzeszów – Poland, Vysoké Tatry – Slovakia and Uzhgorod – Ukraine.  Marina Kostic, Assistant Mayor, Nikola Lecić, Chief Urban Planner and Stela Jovanovic, expert associate at the Office for Local Economic Development and Projects and Honorary Consul of the Republic of Slovakia in Serbia were the members of Nis City Delegation.This meeting was an opportunity to dicuss with the hosts the future cooperation between the chambers of commerce of two cities, the national theaters and two planning departments, with an open possibility for other forms of cooperation that twin towns can accomplish, considering the possibilities, but above all, friendship for nearly two decades.