February 25^th

The day care center for children, youth and adults with disabilities in the development Mara received the donation – computer equipment from representatives of the Serbian – American Friendship Club, Spirit from America Organization and representatives of the US Military Department at US Embassy. As it has been announced, Institution Mara could soon expect another great donation from the American people intended for expansion of the capacities of the institution. On the press conference held on this occasion at Mara Institution the country manager of the Spirit of America Organization for Serbia Mr. John Capello said that they would try to help the citizens of Nis and thus improve the relations between two nations. “I think that Mara is doing incredible job.  I am here for the first time and I hope that we will cooperate for a long time. This is a small donation. We expect long-term cooperation. Thank you for your warm welcome, thank you for everything that people who work here do for the beneficiaries

and I look forward to every new visit,” said John Capello from the Spirit of America. Nis City Mayor Darko Bulatovic thanked the guest from US for providing all the donations and not only to Mara Institution but other health care institutions. He added that the City of Nis provided additional funds for the salaries of the newly employed, and that the project and the program “a break from parenting would be able to start soon” said Bulatovic.

February 24^th

The traditional promotion of Nis as a city of rich heritage with numerous cultural and historical sites was held at the International Tourism Fair in Belgrade. Nis was promoted as the city that offered its guests the best cuisine, entertainment and opportunities for adventure, sport and spending time in nature. For these reasons, according to the director of Nis Tourism Organizations Mr. Uros Parlic Nis is becoming more and more popular among tourists, and from year to year the number of foreign and domestic guests is increasing. This increase in the number of tourists was almost by 20% compared to 2017. In order to continue this trend Nis has already been introduced in Moscow, Bratislava, Vienna, Ljubljana, Sofia and several other European capitals at the tourism fairs. Nis City Mayor Darko Bulatovic visited the promotional stands of the city at the fair. On this occasion he emphasized that tourism was extremely important, not only because of the high income it brought, but also because of the image and the reputation of the city and above all because of the new jobs generated by tourism.

February 21^st

The presentation of the support programs and subsidies provided by the Development Agency of Serbia to Belgian companies operating in our country was organized by the Development Agency of Serbia, the Office for Economics and Trade of the Embassy of Belgium in Serbia and the Belgian-Serbian Business Association. At the same time, Belgian companies that are interested in starting a business in Serbia or expanding their presence and operations in our country had the opportunity to receive the necessary instructions and information. The Office for Local Economic Development and Projects of the City of Nis, as an example of good practice in attracting foreign direct investments, presented its work to the Belgian-Serbian business community and showed why Nis was declared the champion of local economic development and the winner of the prestigious Financial Times award. The Head of the Office for Local Economic Development and Projects of the City of Nis Milan Randjelovic, stressed at today’s meeting what the advantages of Nis and the region were that attracted investors to this part of Serbia, such as geostrategic position, connection of the transport routes, airports, the existence of the University, skilled labor, but also the willingness of the local self-government to solve quickly and efficiently the problems that potential investors could encounter. He pointed out that the Office for Local Economic Development and Projects monitored the realization of every investment, from the first initial contact, to the opening of factories and that its employees represented the link between investors and other institutions. Ranđelović stressed that this kind of work has yielded results and that the unemployment rate in Nis has been drastically reduced. Also, the capacities of OLEDP are significantly strengthened in relation to the period of 10 years ago when this office was created, so today it is much easier to work with a large number of investors who came to our city and who are planning to operate in Nis. The head of OLEDP thanked the Development Agency of Serbia for the significant support provided to the City of Nis during all years of cooperation and stressed that he hoped that the important investments for Nis and its citizens jointly implemented by OLEDP and RAS were yet to come.

February 21^st

The City of Nis and Nis National Theater will be the hosts and organizers of the First Festival of Drama and Theater of the Balkan Cultural Space “Theater at the Crossroads” from 12 to 19 March, at which 8 performances by theatre groups from the region would compete. The idea of the festival is to affirm the similarities and differences of the countries and peoples in the region of the Balkan. The festival will be opened on March 11^th on the day of the Nis National Theater with the premiere performance of the Traveling Theater Sopalovic. “Theater at the Crossroads”, will gather performances from the region from Maribor, from Cetinje, Varazdin to Pleven. The program council is chaired by the director Nebojsa Bradic and the jury of the festival is led by actress Mia Begovic, bringing together eminent theater producers from the Balkans.  The newly established festival will offer to the audience, through eight competitive performances, and debates and promotions, the similarities and differences of the cultural identity of the countries from this region. The new festival offers the opportunity to offer different platforms for dialogue with theater producers in the name of the Balkan theater and the possibilities of cooperation – from the exchange of programs and artists to co-productions.

 GIZ AND THE CITY OF NIS SIGNED MEMORANDUM OF UNDERSTANDING

February 14^th

One of the first local self-governments in Serbia that has expressed a strong commitment to improving energy efficiency in the public buildings sector is the City of Nis. The first step towards this goal is the review and analysis of the current state of school buildings, and then the assessment of potential energy savings, the proposal of adequate measures for their energy rehabilitation, and the definition of the next steps and operators. According to estimates there are about 6500 schools and kindergartens in Serbia, most of them built in the seventies and eighties. Most buildings have inadequate thermal insulation, outdated heating and cooling systems and significant structural damage caused by inadequate maintenance. On the other hand, studies conducted within the framework of the Serbian-German Development Cooperation Project, such as the National School and Kindergarten Typology, indicate that investments in the energy efficiency measures in schools have a great potential for energy savings and a reduction in CO2 emissions. In this regard, Nis City Mayor Darko Bulatovic, and the leader of the GIZ sector for energy efficiency and renewable energy sources, Stephan Heieck, signed the Memorandum of Understanding, which officially marked the beginning of cooperation in the field of energy efficiency in public buildings, with a special emphasis on schools. In this way, the City of Nis will be among the first local self-governments in Serbia (along with Kraljevo, Pancevo, Priboj, Bajina Basta, Uzice, etc.), which will use the Calculator which is based on the “cost-benefit” approach for analyzing the potential of applying EE measures to school facilities, creating priority lists of school facilities for energy rehabilitation. The priority lists created in this way are a good and solid support for planning various rehabilitation programs, but also for applying for funds with available donor and national funds for improving energy efficiency. The Memorandum foresees close cooperation between the GIZ and the City of Nis in the area of ​​energy and energy efficiency, and it is planned that the activities covered by the Memorandum will be implemented by the end of 2019.

In the former Nazi Concentration Camp Crveni Krst memorial service was held and the flower wreaths were laid paying respects to patriots who lost their lives in the camp or were executed at Bubanj between 1941 and 1944. This day is also the day of remembrance the first organized breakthrough and the escape of detainees from a concentration camp in the territory of Europe in the winter of 1942. Vladimir Jovanovic from the village of Kravlja, one of the rare survivors and a man who was barely seventeen years old when he was detained behind the barbed wire of the camp, ant relocated to infamous Mauthausen spoke about those years on this occasion. Aleksandar Gaun, the deputy president of the Union of Jewish Municipalities of Serbia, spoke about the suffering of the Jews, who, in addition to captured members of the Partisan and Ravnogorski movement, were the most numerous among the inmates, who pointed out that no camp should ever be forgotten or set aside from the historical scene as the eternal warning of the evil that took over Europe, and which, if these memories were not nurtured and remembered, can quickly be revived. Nis City Mayor Darko Bulatović, reiterated that every February 12^th, every year, we gathered together in the place where the most brutal pages of our history had been written, because only so united could we preserve our tradition, our past and our roots. “The winner is the one who is able to love and forgive. Therefore, on behalf of all the victims, we are sending a clear message from the Crveni Krst today that the executionsites must be remembered, but not repeated! They should be kept as a historical warning that the war will destroy a man if a man does not destroy the war! “, said Mayor Bulatovic. Traditionally, on the occasion of marking the anniversary of the camp breakthrough, the march of the scouts along the trails along which the prisoners were escaping was organized.

Nis City Mayor Darko Bulatovic met with the Ambassador of Romania to Belgrade, Oana- Kristina Popa at Nis City House. On this occasion Ambassador Popa told the host that during the presidency of Romania over the European Council it would support Serbia on its European path, and the enlargement would be at the very top of the European agenda. Popa, whose country presides over the Council of the European Union in the first half of this year, said that the European perspective of the Western Balkans in 2018 was reaffirmed, adding that Romania would help candidate countries to advance in European integration.  “Serbia is one of the leading candidates for the EU and plays a key role in the stability of the Western Balkans,” Popa said, who presented the goals of Romania during the presidency of the European Union in a lecture at the EU info corner in Nis. She reiterated that Serbia could count on Romania’s assistance in the accession process and in the reform process, and that Nis, as one of the most important cities in Serbia, can find partners in many cities in Romania, to work more closely on solving issues that are common to cities of this size and degree of development. Mayor Bulatovic presented the potentials of Nis, economic, cultural, scientific and historical, and pointed out that Nis was interested in establishing close ties with the cities in Romania, first of all with those who had experience in the development of modern, advanced technologies, having in mind that there were already several “IT Hubs” in Romania similar to those that Nis wanted to create in the future Scientific and Technology Park and StartUp center at the Faculty of Electronic Engineering. Bulatovic reiterated that Romania and Serbia have been building good neighborly relations for centuries and that city and municipalities with the help of the embassies, have deepened this relationship.