At the press conference held at Nis City Hall Nis City Mayor Darko Bulatovic that the companies Zumtobel and IMI would open their factories in Nis in the following two months and that the construction of the first phase of the apartments for members of the security forces would start. “We are expecting new jobs because we have the opening of IMI and Zumtobel. President Aleksandar Vucic will attend the opening of these factories as well as the beginning of construction of apartments for members of the Army and the Police. This two-year period was marked by the strong support of the Government of Serbia and President Vucic to the City of Nis because without state aid we would hardly be able to realize such significant investments, “Bulatovic said. Mayor Bulatovic pointed out that the new employment would further reduce the unemployment rate in our city. At present, there are about 26,000 unemployed people in Nis, according to the mayor, and the number of newly employed increased by 16,000. Bulatovic stressed that the number of tourists has increased by almost 100 percent, and that this was the result of the overall economic environment and the atmosphere in the city. When it comes to the housing construction project, Nis and Vranje are the first cities in Serbia where the implementation of this state project will begin. “We are fully committed to the first phase in which 198 apartments will be built, and we are also working on the preparation of a new location for apartments,” Mayor said. He said, referring to the report he submitted to the members of Nis City Assembly, the previous two years were difficult and that the City managed to repay 2,6 million debts inherited from the previous period, stabilize public finances, regularly service current obligations without any new borrowing. The Mayor pointed out that the state gave 330 million dinars to the City of Nis, that the money was in the city’s account and that it would be used in the event of unforeseen expenses. Mayor Bulatovic reiterated once again the City Hall was open to all citizens for their questions, proposals and suggestions.

The City of Nis, on the basis of the Local Economic Development Program, implemented by the Office for Local Economic Development and Projects, announced measures aimed at subsidizing and assisting micro, small and medium enterprises and entrepreneurs registered in the territory of the City of Nis. For these purposes, from the Budget of the City of Nis for the year 2018, about 40 million dinars have been allocated, which is a significant increase in relation to 18 million, which the city allocated last year, when these measures were applied for the first time, as it was said by Mihajlo Zdravkovic, the Member of Nis City Council in charge of economic issues at the press conference held at Nis City Hall.  He emphasized that the goal was to double the amount of funds, reaching the number of about 500 business entities from the territory of the City of Nis, which would be granted some kind of assistance.

The city has launched two public calls. The first is a public invitation to banks interested in short-term lending to commercial entities from the territory of Nis with the participation of the city in subsidizing interest rates on loans. Credit beneficiaries may be micro, small and medium enterprises and entrepreneurs with regular business operations and which are registered in the territory of the City of Nis. The City of Nis will subsidize interest on loans for the purchase of fixed assets purchasing machinery and equipment, modernization of the production process, stabilization of production, investment in new modern means of labor and production for the purpose of developing entrepreneurship, construction, reconstruction and adaptation of business premises and new employment. The funds with which the City of Nis will subsidize the interest on approved loans amount to 9,362,409.00 dinars. The measure is implemented as a state aid of low value (de minimis state aid), and these funds will include twice as many micro, small and medium enterprises from the territory of Nis compared to the numbers last year. The second call refers to granting of incentives for Measures of Internationalization and Competitiveness. The priority should be given to the companies in the field of information technologies – IT, electronics, mechanical engineering, logistics, food processing and textile industries. All measures are implemented as low-value state aid (de minimis state aid).

Public call refers to measures classified into five groups:

1. Internationalization is assistance to micro, small and medium enterprises and entrepreneurs to cover part of justified costs without VAT, for organized or individual performances at fairs or trade fairs, with a limit of up to 100.000,00 dinars per economic subject. The total planned amount of funds for these purposes is 3,000,000.00 dinars.
2. Internationalization of associations and economic associations – The measure of internationalization is also implemented as assistance to associations and economic associations, which organize international manifestations of economic and tourism character or group visits to events abroad, which promote the city’s economic and tourism potentials, to cover the part of justified costs excluding VAT, with a limit of up to 1,000,000 dinars per user. The total planned amount of funds for these purposes is 4,000,000.00 dinars
3. Improvement of the competitiveness of micro, small and medium enterprises and entrepreneurs through the co-financing costs VAT excluded for the service providers for the following activities: operating business in accordance with the requirements of international business standards (standard implementation, certification, ) and labeling the product with “CE” mark; market research, necessary for the introduction of a new or existing product in the new market; testing new products; new design of products and packaging; improving existing and developing new products/services; electronic presentation of the company. Funds are allocated to cover up to 50% of eligible costs excluding VAT with a limit of up to 300,000.00 dinars per business entity. The total planned amount of funds for this purpose is 10,000,000.00 dinars.
4. Improving the competitiveness of the companies using the Startup center and Coworking space by co-financing the costs without VAT for the following activities: operating business in accordance with the requirements of international standards business (standard implementation, certification, recertification) and labeling the product with “CE” mark; market research, necessary for the introduction of a new or existing product in the new market; testing new products; new design of products and packaging; improving existing and developing new products/services; electronic presentation of the company. Funds are allocated to cover up to 50% of eligible costs excluding VAT with a limit of up to 300,000.00 dinars per user. The total planned amount of funds for this purpose is 5,000,000.00 dinars.
5. Improving cooperation between the economy and scientific and educational institution by the funds allocated in order to connect the economy, education and scientific and educational institutions directly, to establish dual education and to improve production processes and procedures through the implementation of scientific achievements and the improvement of scientific education processes. Projects will be supported up to 1,000,000 dinars per project, in which at least three companies and one scientifically accredited institution will take part together. The total planned amount of funds for this purpose is 6,000,000.00 dinars.

Deadline for submission of applications is 01/10/2018. The first opening of the received applications will be 15 days after the announcement of the Public Invitation, and then, every 15 days the decisions will be successively made until the expiration of the deadline on 01/10/2018 or until the exhaustion of the funds. Information about these public calls can be found on the site of the City of Nis (www.gu.ni.rs) and on the website of the Office for Local Economic Development and Projects (www.investnis.rs).