June 22^nd

Deputy Prime Minister of Serbia, prof. Dr. Zorana Mihajlovic, visited the renovated building of the Nis Airport Constantine the Great, where, for less than a year, 70 million dinars were invested in the expansion of the terminal building and procurement of new equipment. Deputy Prime Minister Mihajlovic together with Nis City Mayor Darko Bulatovic and Airport General Manager Vladica Djurdjanovic visited reconstructed counters for check-in for the passengers and baggage. On this occasion Deputy PM Mihajlovic pointed out that, two years before, this airport had 1,225 passengers, and with great joint team work, the number of passengers this year was increased to 140,000. “Last year we had a total of 122,000 passengers, and to date, this year there are 140,000 at the Nis airport. This is really a success, “Mihajlovic said, adding that efforts would be made in the coming years to increase the number of passengers at the Nis airport to 550,000 by 2020. In the past two and a half years, cargo transportation increased the volume six times. As of now, Nis Airport has 11 lines – Basel, Malmo, Memingen, Eindhoven, Dortmund, Düsseldorf, Berlin, Bratislava, Milan, Stockholm and Zurich. Constantine the Great is a regional airport, and Nis is very important for Serbia and the Western Balkans. It is up to us to take advantage of the strategic location of Nis. Many talked about the leadership position of this city, and we are trying to show it through the results, “said Deputy PM Mihajlovic.

She added the government invested in the airport in Nis during previous period and that it would continue to do so, and the plan was for the total investments to be around 6.5 million euros. About four million euros will be invested in the tower and expansion of the terminals and an investment of between 2 and 2.5 million euros is planned for landing and launching devices under the bad weather conditions. “These investments are important because the Nis Airport should be an alternative to Belgrade Nikola Tesla Airport. It is our interest to increase the number of passengers and to use Nis as a cargo center and we will succeed in that, “said Mihajlovic.

Mayor Bulatovic said that nobody invested in Nis airport as this government for the past few years. “Constantine the Great Airport would not survive without the support we had from Deputy PM Mihajlovic and her ministry. Thanks to the state, we managed to get on our feet and jointly create the conditions for the airport to develop and to be, not only Nis airport, but also the entire southeast of the country and beyond airport, “said Mayor Bulatovic. He said that the reconstruction of existing capacities would be continued as well as the upgrading. Currently, the works are being carried out on further reconstruction of terminal infrastructure, the construction of the missing hangar and parking space, worth 7.5 million euros. 30 million dinars were invested in the airport building, which was made 30 years before, in the repair of the roof and facades and in the increase in the number of counters, from 2 to 4 while 40 million were invested in equipment, first of all in the new X-Ray Inspection Devices for passengers and hand luggage. The second phase of the reconstruction begins in 2018, with the aim of increasing or doubling the capacity of the terminal.

June 22^nd

The Vice President of the Government of Serbia and the President of the Gender Equality Coordination Body, prof. Dr. Zorana Mihajlovic, presented in Nis the keys of the car, which would be used for the transportation of women and children victims of domestic violence in this city who are accommodated at the Safe House in Nis. Mihajlovic said at a press conference held at Nis City Hall that over five years more than 500 women passed through the safe house, and that every tenth of them was over 60 years old. “This is especially worrying, because they are our grandmothers, aunts, mothers, who suffered violence,” Mihajlovic said. She said that the Ministry supported 10 projects in safe houses, for which 10 million dinars were allocated. “We also plan to donate computers, which will no longer be used in the Government, as a gift to safe houses, and we will try to involve other ministries. This is especially important for children in safe houses, because we want to help them have better conditions to grow and develop despite the difficulties they face, “Mihajlovic said.”It is the task of all of us to help, to have as little as possible women and children staying in safe houses, and to create conditions for them to live freely again,” Mihajlovic said. She added that the car for safe house in Nis was donated by RS Ministry of Construction, Transport and Infrastructure, and that it was used car which was serviced and it would be of help in the daily functioning, primarily when safe house dweller need to go to court or the social care center. The keys to the car were delivered to Mrs. Sonja Scekic, the director of the Safe House in Nis.

Mrs. Scekic thanked the Deputy Prime Minister for her donation to the institution which provided 24-hour protection to victims of domestic violence, adding that the promise made during her previous visit to the Safe House in November 2016 was fulfilled. “The Deputy Prime Minister is constantly taking care of safe houses. Besides the donation in cars we have signed the contract for the project “Protect Yourself with Greenery” which would enable the green fence to be made around the safe house. Mrs. Scekic added that expressed concern was at the same time the message to all women who might be suffering the violence, to report it because they were not alone, they had the support and the state cared about them.

Nis City Mayor Darko Bulatovic thanked, on the behalf of the City of Nis, to the Deputy PM Zorana Mihajlovic, for the donation, and pointed out that he was extremely pleased because the Deputy Prime Minister had the opportunity to learn more about all the projects implemented in Nis with the support of the Government of the Republic of Serbia at a meeting with the management of the city and city municipalities.