Before a packed Saint Sava Hall the Fifth International Festival of Spiritual – Music Edict began. At the opening night two local host choirs performed together with the guest choirs from Slovenia and Russia. Slovenian mixed choir came from Jevnica, while Russian student choir of the Conservatory in Moscow received all the sympathy of the audience when they opened their performance with Serbian national anthem.

The festival was opened by the Mayor of Nis, Darko Bulatović, welcoming the guests to one of the oldest Serbian cities, the imperial city of Emperor Constantine to whom not only Christianity, but also the whole civilization owed a lot because of his work.

Nis City Council Member Mrs. Jelena Mitrovski met today with the participants of the scientific conference Nis and Byzantium which, on the occasion of the city festivity days celebrating city patron St. Emperor Constantine and St. Empress Helen, was held in Nis.
It is a prestigious scientific conference which has been organized in our city for 16 years, and, which brings together world-renowned scholars studying Byzantine period. This year’s scientific symposium Nis and Byzantium was the central Serbian scientific conference dedicated to the most important event in the history of Serbian statehood , i.e., the 800^th anniversary of the First Serbian Kingdom and the coronation of Stefan the First Crowned. It is a great tribute to the efforts of the organizers to keep this conference going for so many years and to be a good host and preserve initial scientific and organizational level.

According to Nis City Council Member Mrs. Jelena Mitrovski the goal was set 16 years before to set the profile of the symposium Nis and Byzantium profiled as a respectable international congresses Byzantium studying scholars, after which the City of Nis would be recognized outside our country. She thanked the participants and invited them to come and take part in this prestigious scientific meeting again.

“I congratulate from the bottom of my heart to all the citizens of Nis the days of our city patrons – St. Emperor Constantine and St. Empress Helen with the wish for our city to be, in the years which ate ahead of us, the driving engine of the progress in the South of Serbia, and that every following year, we celebrate these days in good health happiness and prosperity. In line with our rich tradition and values ​​on which it is based, our efforts are directed towards improving the quality of life of our citizens. To make the most of the opportunities that are before us, we need unity and cooperation. With the desire to implement positive economic and cultural projects in the years ahead, once again I extend my congratulations on this occasion, “as Nis City Mayor Darko Bulatovi said in his speech.

Previously, in the church of St. Emperor Constantine and St. Empress Helen, His Grace Bishop Teodosije of Nis, presented to the Mayor the labarum with the monogram of Christ, which symbolically marked the beginning of the celebration of the city festivity days.

A thousand members of the Serbian Ministry of Interior demonstrated training and equipment of the Serbian Police at the celebration of its National Day which was organized in Nis attended by Government of the Republic of Serbia ministers and numerous guests as well as gathered citizens of Nis. First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Interior, Mr. Nebojsa Stefanovic, said at the ceremony that in the last three years the crime rate in the country fell by 7%. The guest on this occasion could see the simulation of antiterrorist combat, resolving the hostage crisis and rescuing hostages by special police units backed by helicopters from the air.

The program for Local Economic Development of the City of Nis for 2017 provides for the first time the awards St. Emperor Constantine and St. Empress Helen for most successful companies headquartered in Nis in the year 2016 which are for a reason awarded on this particular date.

The celebration of the city patron saints’ days is an opportunity to recognize the best companies in Ns, which, in various fields, are contributing to its local economic development. Their contribution is the contribution to the positioning of Nis on the business map of Serbia as the regional center and an ideal destination for new investments. Companies, small, medium and large enterprises, as well as a number of entrepreneurs and supporting institutions, through their work contribute to a more positive economic image of the city and reducing of the unemployment.

Those, who are opening new companies and they are growing in numbers, are the sign that there are new business ideas and plans for the development of existing ones.
Institutions in the education system are working closely with business community and the local self-government is doing everything to support and further develop establish synergy of all stakeholders in the important process of local economic development. Among the many winners in several categories, there are companies like Philip Morris, Aster Textiles, Johnson Electric, Benetton and Leoni, while among awarded local companies, there are  construction company Put Inzenjering, Bakery Brankovic and meat industry Biftek. The association of businessmen Naisus was awarded to as well as Faculty of Mechanical Engineering for outstanding contribution to local economic development. The beginners in business are companies Federman, Mildeks and Anakvadrat doo Nis.