Nis City Mayor Darko Bulatovic together with the Vice President of the Government of the Republic of Serbia and Minister of Trade, Tourism and Telecommunications Rasim Ljajic and Minister of Finance Sinisa Mali met with Huawei’s management. After the meeting, Bulatovic expressed satisfaction with the fact that the City of Nis was covered by the Memorandum of Cooperation between the Government of Serbia and Huawei on the development of smart cities. “It was generally agreed that Nis would be the first local self-government in Serbia in which a smart city project should be implemented. In this sense, we will select three utility service companies from the seven tested in the coming period, which will be covered by the pilot project. The smart city project in the future will significantly ease the daily life of the citizens of Nis, “Mayor Bulatovic said. Huawei Vice President Li Jian pointed out that a delegation of the company would visit Nis in the next four weeks to discuss on the ground what communal services would be most suitable for the implementation of the smart city project. He added that Nis could be a good example of developing the smart city concept not only in Serbia, but also in Europe.

April 24^th

Nis City Mayor Darko Bulatovic is the official member of Serbian national delegation at the Second Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation which is being held in Beijing. The Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), also known as the One Belt One Road or the Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st-century Maritime Silk Road is a Chinese Government development strategy involving infrastructure development and investments in 152 countries and international organisations in Europe, Asia, Middle East, Latin America and Africa. Since the establishment of the comprehensive strategic partnership between China and Serbia in 2016, bilateral cooperation in various fields has been advancing steadily. A Serbian delegation headed by President Aleksandar Vucic signed several bilateral agreements on the first day of a visit to Beijing on Wednesday. Nis City Mayor Darko Bulatovic attended the signing of the MoU between Republic of Serbia Minister of Trade, Tourism and Telecommunications Mr. Rasim Ljajic and telecoms giant Huawei for the Smart Cities project for the cities of Belgrade, Novi Sad and Nis.The purpose of this document is to develop the strategy of smart cities through the positioning of Huawei as a strategic partner for cities and local governments in Nis, Belgrade and Novi Sad. “Through joint work, through the exchange of information the platform for the development of local potentials and the building of local ecosystems in the field of digital transformation in the public, financial, educational, energy and transport sector will be provided which is of particular importance for the future development of Nis, as a great Balkan hub, “Bulatovic said after arriving in Beijing. Mayor Bulatovic will also take part in the Digital Silk Road Forum, one of the thematic forums under the Second Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation. The City of Nis together with the City of Hangzhou from China has been appointed as the pilot cities for the initiative of the economic cooperation along the China-Serbia Digital Silk Road.

April 23^rd

Nis City Mayor Darko Bulatovic met with Mr. Harry Roberts, an IT expert working for Google, who was in Nis giving the lecture at the IT Conference and Job Fair IT-Connect. During the conversation the Mayor pointed out that the funds that the state allocated for the development of IT sector in Serbia as well as all the activities that City of Nis was doing to assist the development of IT community in Nis. “We have supported the establishment of Start Up Center for the students and young entrepreneurs in IT sector, we are building the extension lamella at the Faculty of Electronic Engineering intended for the R&D laboratory, and we have started the construction works for the Science Technological Park by which the City of Nis was supporting the creation of the innovative ecosystems for the companies who will operate from the STP. Also, this year we will organize the fifth-in –a-row Forum of Advance Technologies in Nis. These are all huge steps for us so that we could catch up with the rest of the world in this sector and even achieve more”, as Mayor Bulatovic said. Mr. Roberts spoke about his experience in working in this sector and his views on IT community in Nis. His guest lecture at IT Conference and Job Fair IT-Connect was the opportunity for developers from Nis t\to learn from one of the best world experts.  The organizers pointed out that the IT – Connect was a growing regional IT community, bringing together more than 10,000 IT professionals from all over the region, with the goal of strengthening this sector and networking companies and professionals. So far, more than 100 IT companies from the region have cooperated with this organization.

April12^th

The City of Nis delegation visited the Rognan –Saltdal in Norway upon the invitation of the officials of Saltdal municipality, with whom City of Nis nurtures twinning relationships since the early 1980s. The delegation consisted of the member of Nis City Council Mrs. Tijana Djordjevic Ilic and the members of the Dance Club Boom 018 from Nis, who took part at the UKM Nordland festival as the part of the cultural exchange programme between two cities.  This visit of Nis City delegation was the opportunity to learn more about  Yugoslav prisoners in Norway during WW2, visit the memorials along the Blood Way Road and pay personal respects to the victims who were laid to their final rest but also learn about the friendship that was then created between the prisoners and the local population. This friendship continued through the cooperation between the municipalities in Norway and municipalities in Serbia. It is important to maintain these connections seeking for new joint content and transferring it to future generations which will ensure the longevity of these contacts.

April 8^th

The International Roma Day was celebrated at Nis City Hall. Nis City Mayor Darko Bulatović congratulated the members of the Roma national minority and expressed the hope that in the future the Roma population would not be spoken about only in the context of the community facing hardships, but about the community that was progressing and fulfilling all its potentials and needs. The ceremony in the City Hall was organized by non-governmental organizations whose work focuses on achieving the civic needs of the Roma minority. Mr. Osman Balic, the President of the Yurom Center said that the Roma people today were one of the youngest people in Europe who were making the fastest progress in their own development. The Roma population started settling in the 19^th century in Nis region.

April 2^nd

The Ambassador of Slovenia to Serbia, Mr. Iztok Jarc visited Nis and met with Nis City Mayor Darko Bulatovic at Nis City Hall on the occasion of which the two officials discussed economic, industrial and sports cooperation between the City of Nis and Slovenia. “Slovenia is the country whose trade with Serbia is on average growing by 10 percent every year with a total value of around one billion euros per year,” Ambassador Jarc said, adding that he was especially looking forward to introduction of direct flights between Ljubljana and Nis, which should start from July 1st this year. Slovenia’s investments in Serbia are quite large, so about 25 000 of our citizens are employed in Slovenian companies operating in our country. Mayor Bulatovic emphasized the importance of establishing an airline between Nis and the Slovenian capital, and expressed his belief that this traffic link could contribute to the arrival of a number of Slovenian tourists to these parts, as Belgrade and Novi Sad are visited by about 100,000 Slovenian tourists every year. This year Nis will host one the groups at the European women’s basketball championship, to which Slovenian team belongs, so a lot of tourists are expected. The meeting with the Mayor was followed by the meeting with the representatives of the business and tourist sector from Nis.