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CITY OF NIS PROMOTES EUROPEAN LOCAL DEMOCRACY WEEK

The “European Local Democracy Week” (ELDW) is a pan-European event which aims at boosting local democracy and citizen participation. It is an initiative coordinated by the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe. Local authorities from all the 47 Member States of the Council of Europe, and their associations are invited to register and organize public events to promote and foster democratic participation at grassroots level. This year main theme of ELDW is “Local Democracy: Building Trust”. Trust   between   people   and   authorities   is   key   to   the   good functioning  of  democracy,  and local  authorities  play  a  crucial  role  in strengthening   public   confidence   in   the   democratic   system   of governance. Open government is a simple but powerful idea that government   will   work   better   for   people   if it   is transparent, participatory and accountable. These three concepts have now become the cornerstones of good democratic governance. Through this practice, citizens can understand and   influence   the   workings   of   the authorities and   hold   them accountable. The main purpose of open government is to ensure better decision making, greater public trust, reduced corruption and more effective public services. Open  government  includes  various  practices,  such  as open  data  initiatives,  access  to  information  laws,  political  rights, whistle-blower   protection,   public   consultation   and   engagement processes, among many other. Since the right of citizens to participate in the conduct of public affairs at local level is enshrined in the preamble of the European Charter of Local Self-Government of 1985, and detailed in its Additional Protocol of  2009,  it  is  fundamental  for  an  established  and  functioning  local democracy  to  promote  education  for  democratic  citizenship  among young people and children. Moreover,  by   engaging  children  and  youth,  local  authorities  will understand  better  their  needs  and  will  be  able  to  develop  more targeted responses for and with the younger generation, thus building a  more inclusive  democratic  local  community.

The first activity planned within ELDW is the presentation of the Youth Council is directed towards presenting the way how young people can approach the Youth Council and get involved in resolving youth issues. The Youth Council is commissioned by the local Assembly. The purpose of the Youth Council is to support, complement and monitor activities directed at youth policy development and implementation. Youth Council is a mechanism which enables young people to take an active role in decision making, and for networking and inter-sectoral cooperation of institutions dealing with the young people. The presentation will be followed by the debate in which the members of the Youth Council and Youth Office will try to provide information and answers to the questions of the general public.

City of Nis Office of the Mayor organizes the visit of the members of the pupils’ parliament and senior classes of the primary school Njegos to Nis City Hall. They will have the opportunity to see what the Mayor does, how he makes decisions and ask him questions. The Mayor will provide information what the local government is doing for children and how problems are being solved or new activities being implemented.

Youth Office of the City of Nis is organizing the Youth NGO Fair in order to enable them to present their activities to the young and the way of cooperating with the local authorities and attracting young people to take part in their projects. The local government is supporting the young by supporting the work of youth NGOs. Youth Office improves youth politics in the area of education, sports, free time, increasing employment, information, health, culture, gender equality, preventing crimes and violence. Some of the services which the Youth Office provides are: financing youth projects, providing career guidance, organizing internships, supporting volunteering, providing free seminars for increasing youth competences, informing the young, etc.  Youth Office administrates the Public Call for financing projects for the young intended for the civil sector each year. Since 2012 until now there have been more than 160 projects financed through youth NGOs.

 

 

Open data can be viewed as raw material that enables the creation of practical solutions in the public and private sectors and forms a new generation of entrepreneurs and social innovators. City of Nis Office for Local Economic Development and Projects will present the concept of Open Data, good practice examples in Serbia and worldwide, as well as examples of reuse of those sets of data in order to create an added value and better and more transparent services provided to the citizens. The general public will also have the opportunity to have the insight into the open data of the City of Nis, as the result of the project ” Open Data Appear on the Map” which has been realized within the national program “Open Data – Open Opportunities”, implemented by the UNDP Serbia and the Office for IT and e-Government, supported by the UK Good Governance Fund and the World Bank. The presentation will be followed by the workshop which will provide the participants with the hands on experience to use the open data. The workshop participants will be representatives of local companies and star-ups, students and other individuals who will develop concrete solutions for the territory of the City of Nis.




E-PARLIAMENT TAILOR MADE FOR NIS CITY ASSEMBLY

October 12

 

Switzerland has been pioneering support to the development and modernization of local assemblies in Serbia. Most recently, through the project “Strengthening the Oversight Function and Transparency of the Parliament – Phase 2”, implemented by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), Switzerland supported the introduction of digital platforms to modernize the work of local parliaments. Nis City Assembly Speaker Rade Rajkovic and Nis City Mayor Darko Bulatovic met with UNDP Resident Representative Francine Pickup and Swiss Cooperation Office Representative Sascha Müller as part of the implementation of the E-Parliament project. The City of Nis Assembly is the first in Serbia to use software version adapted to the work of Nis parliamentarians. The system ensures greater efficiency of the Assembly’s work, saves money and allows for more users to simultaneously search for information, while having access to documents at all times. In addition to these benefits for the members of the parliament (MPs), e-parliament also makes the work of local assemblies more transparent and accountable for citizens. Apart from the development of the e-parliament, Nis was supported in preparing amendments to the Rules of Procedure regarding the City assembly’s transition. The Rules of Procedure will enable Nis City Assembly to adapt its work to digital way of working, as well as electronic voting, thus significantly reducing the time and cost of assembly sessions. Overall, the Swiss Government and UNDP assistance for the Nis Assembly encompasses 78 tablets, as well as expert support with a total value of 150,000 EUR. It is estimated that the City of Nis will thus save over 2 million dinars annually, which is the amount of savings in printing assembly materials. Also, by eliminating the need to print and submit documentation from the session to each Member individually, significant savings will be made. “Strengthening the Oversight Function and Transparency of the Parliament” Project is supported by Switzerland with 1,7 million EUR with the aim of achieving a more transparent and efficient work of the National assembly and local assemblies across Serbia.




AMBASSADOR OF FINLAND VISITED NIS

October 9

Finnish ambassador in Serbia Mr. Kimo Lahdevirta visited Nis. He met with Nis City Mayor Darko Bulatovic and the two officials discussed the possibilities of Finnish companies investing in IT in this area and improving cooperation in other areas with this Scandinavian country. Ambassador Lahdevirta said that Finland operates in Serbia through several companies, and especially emphasized the example of the brand “Kone”, which deals with the installation of lifts and escalators and has a business center in Serbia. After the meeting with the Mayor, the Ambassador Lahdevirta spoke about the priorities of the Finland chairing the EU Council in the second half of 2019.  During the presentation of the priorities of the Finnish EU Presidency the Ambassador also emphasized the importance of enlargement of the Union as well as the unity of the entire continent. “If we want to succeed in the future, I think we must all be together, not only EU member states but all European countries,” said Ambassador Lahdevirta. Finland took over the rotating six-month presidency of the EU Council from Romania on 1 July this year. Priority issues include strengthening shared values ​​and the rule of law, competitiveness and social inclusion, taking on the role of global leader in the fight against climate change, and overall protection of citizens’ security. After the presentation in the EU info corner, he officially opened the exhibition Finnish Innovative Design in the Officers’ Mess Building, which was realized in cooperation with the organization Young Ambassadors from Nis.




RECEPTION FOR JOY OF EUROPE FRSTIVAL PARTICIPANTS AND GUESTS

October 7

 

As part of the “Joy of Europe” even the reception was organized for the children participating in the festival. The participants of this traditional event were received by Nis City Mayor Darko Bulatovic who welcomed all guests and children performing in Nis. The reception was also attended by the director of Children’s Cultural Center of Belgrade Mr. Minja Saturday and the director of the Center for Tradition and Spirituality from Nis Mr. Miljko Petrovic. Joy of Europe is the largest and oldest international event for children’s creativity, celebrating its 50th anniversary this year. At the beginning of October, children from European countries arrived to Belgrade to sing, act, and, above all, to socialize and have fun.




MEETING WITH THE HEADS OF UNDP AND UNHCR IN SERBIA

August 29

 

Nis City Mayor Darko Bulatovic met with UNDP and UNHCR representatives in Serbia about the assistance these organizations has been providing to the city in the implementation of projects of particular importance to national minorities. The meeting was also attended by Nis City Council Member for Social Care Issues Mrs. Tijana Djordjevic Ilic and Assistant Mayor Goran Milosavljević. Mayor Bulatovic emphasized the openness of the City of Nis to all projects that would improve the quality of life of minority communities and that excellent cooperation has been achieved so far.  UNDP Resident Representative to Serbia Ms. Francine Pickup highlighted the great experience that UNDP has in the implementation of projects all around the world. UNDP Strategic Plan focuses on key areas such as poverty reduction, democratic governance, peacebuilding, climate change and disaster risk and economic inequality. UNDP supports governments in integrating sustainable development goals into their national development plans and policies. Achieving the Sustainable Development Goals involves partnering governments, the private sector, civil society and citizens to ensure a better living environment for future generations. The head of the UNHCR in Serbia, Hans Friedrich Schoder expressed satisfaction with the progress in the area of refugee care through existing programs and announced continued support to the Government of Serbia, the civil sector and local governments in addressing key refugee problems.

 




NIS AIRPORT GROWTH TREND CONTINUED

August 16

The press conference held at the Nis City Hall highlighted the role and importance of Nis Airport in the aviation world, as well as the importance of the City of Nis as the regional center of Serbia. Nis City Mayor Darko Bulatovic, as well as Director of PE Serbian Airports Mihajlo Zdravkovic and the director of Nis Airport Constantine the Great Dusan Knezevic emphasized that positive trends in the number of airlines, passengers and goods transported that confirmed that the decision to cooperate with the Government of Serbia and the line ministry and state institutions was justified and right. “The criticism that we want to close Nis Airport and banish the low cost airlines has simply proved to be political and completely incorrect. The arrival of the national airline, which opened 12 new routes, not only did not and will not drive other airlines out of Nis, but caused the opposite effect. The number of passengers is increasing, as well as number of destination that you can fly from Nis and the number of regular flights which again is proved by Ryanair which will start flying from Nis to Malta on November 8,”said Mayor Bulatovic. The director of PE Serbian Airport Mihajlo Zdravkovic said that, in recent months, it has been clearly shown that the existing capacities of the airport are in every sense exceeded and that the number of employees has to be increased quickly, as well as the technical capacity for accepting aircrafts, and it is already being intensively worked on. In addition he announced the reconstruction and significant expansion of the departure/arrival building to give passengers greater comfort and much better conditions at the airport. The introduction of a new flight from Nis to Malta confirmed the trend of air traffic development, said also the director of Constantine the Great Airport Dusan Knezevic, who emphasized that in July alone more than 35,000 passengers went through the Nis airport and that, according to current indicators, the number of passenger in August would reach 50 000. He added that in addition to 12 Air Serbia flights and the new Ryanair flight to Malta, Wizz Air would increase the flight dynamics from 2 to 4 to Malmo from April next year. “In addition to the arrival of new airlines, new flights are being introduced by airlines with whom we have long-standing cooperation, which proves that the development of air traffic at this airport has a positive growth trend, and that the projection of about 420,000 passengers annually in 2018 will be realized.” said Director Knezevic.




CITY OF NIS TOGETHER WITH 210 EUROPEAN CITIES FIGHTING AGAINST CLIMATE CHANGE

August 14

City of Nis has joined a group of 210 cities across Europe, representing 62 million citizens, whose mayors and leaders demanded that the European Council and Member States intensify EU commitment to climate change, show global leadership and take an ambitious approach to lead rapid advances in the implementation of the Paris Agreement. The open letter, signed by the leaders of cities from 21 EU member states and 7 neighboring countries, was published ahead of the Future of Europe conference in Sibiu, Romania (https://energy-cities.eu/policy/cities-call -for-a-more-sustainable-and-equitable-european-future/). Their demands include: developing a fair and inclusive European long-term climate strategy that will increase resilience to climate change and ensure that greenhouse gas emissions are more than halved by 2030 by 2020 and reach zero net emissions by 2020 2050; advance the EU climate and energy targets by 2030 and targets set at national level to ensure a rapid, equitable and climate-resilient energy transition in line with the above objectives; aligning the next long-term EU budget with this strategy, eliminating fossil fuel subsidies and making climate action a priority in all funding programs; obliging all EU Member States to set binding zero net emission reduction targets and other targets above. “As Nis City Mayor I am extremely proud to add my name to this letter signed by mayors from all over Europe,” said Darko Bulatovic, Mayor of Nis. “Our citizens have the same concerns as citizens of all Europe, concerns for their children and for their future. The City of Nis is ready to lead by example the energy transition towards a carbon-neutral future, but we need the support from our government and from all levels of EU to ensure that these ambitious but necessary goals are met. “




RECEPTION FOR THE AMBASSADOR OF SWEDEN

August 13th

Nis City Mayor Darko Bulatovic met with the Ambassador of the Kingdom of Sweden in Serbia Mr.  Jan Lundin at Nis City Hall and on this occasion the two officials discussed promoting co-operation and developing bilateral relations. The cooperation so far has been excellent, especially in the field of culture and environment, which is especially true of the project of preparing the tender and technical documentation for the construction of the Waste Water Treatment Plant, which has been supported by Sweden through Sida. Mayor Bulatovic and Ambassador Lundin also stressed the importance of maintaining 3 airline routes from Nis to cities in Sweden, Stockholm and Malmo and recently Gothenburg. According to Ambassador Lundin this will be of great benefit primarily to the numerous Serbian diaspora in this Scandinavian country, as well as to tourists from Sweden who want to get to know this part of Europe as well, because of the rich heritage of this part of Serbia, as well as the many attractive events and festivals, such as the just completed Nisville. It was also estimated that the improvement of air traffic, as well as all other types of traffic, significantly increased the capacities of Nis and this part of Serbia in attracting new investors from this friendly country, which, as agreed, would be the focus of future cooperation between Nis and the Embassy of the Kingdom of Sweden in Serbia.




ANIMATED FILM COLONY AND FESTIVAL IN NIS

July 25

Nis City Mayor Darko Bulatović visited the Children’s Library where the 13th International Colony of Animated Film for Children and Youth was being held. On this occasion Mayor Bulatovic greeted the children from country and abroad and thanked them for coming to our city, and said that he supported their artistic work and creativity and wished them a lot of success and rewards in the future. Over 30 talented students from 10 to 18 the country and the world traditionally spend several days with their peers from Nis in creative atmosphere, workshops and sightseeing of the city. During the workshops led by renowned lecturers and mentors the children discussed many topics. Along with the organization of the Colony the International Festival of Animated Film Coin of Constantine will be held for the 7th time According to organizers 894 films from 86 countries were enrolled for the festival. Of this number, after the selection, 84 films from 31 countries were selected for the contest. There are 45 films in the senior category and 39 in the Student category. The first prize at the festival was awarded to the film After the Rain from France, explaining that the film represented the perfect combination of animation, visual style, dramaturgy and sound. The same film was awarded with the first prize and in the category of seniors. In this category, the second prize went to China’s movie The Quintet of the Sunset, and the jury explained the decision with “the wonderful characterization and poetic sense of human life. The third prize in this category went to the Russian film Quiet for an aesthetic and nostalgic view of the relations between generations. In the student category, the first prize went to the film The Little Hero, which came from Romania. This is an educational story expressed through classical animation and beautiful graphics. The second prize went to the Israeli film Reviver, accompanied by a commentary that this was “an excellent example of a convincing story told using a complex stop-trick technique. The third prize went to Russia for the film Blanket Tale, for innovative and fun movie with great visual style and energy.




BAVARIAN BUSINESS DELEGATION VISITING NIS

June 28

The visit of the Bavarian business delegation to Nis was organized by Bavaria’s state ministry for the economy and the German-Serbian Chamber of Commerce. The delegation was comprised of the representatives of 10 companies from different fields, together with the representatives of the Bavarian Ministry Mr. Martin Grossman and Ms. Ursula Heinzel, whose mission of the visit to Serbia was getting to know the potentials for Serbia’s cooperation with this German province, which was considered to be among the richest and most developed region of Europe. This was also the main topic of the discussion of the guests from Bavaria with the Nis City Mayor Darko Bulatović and Assistant Mayor Milos Milosevic, the Head of the City of Nis Office for Local Economic Development and Projects Milan Randjelovic, the director of the Nis Regional Chamber of Commerce Aleksandar Milicevic and the Head of the Association of Businessmen Naissus Dragan Milosevic who presented all the potentials and advantages of this part of our country. Mayor Bulatovic pointed out that, that due to the support of the Government and President Vucic, Nis was developing faster than all other parts of Serbia, and that the fact that Nis was industrial, technological, transport, scientific-educational, as well as the cultural and sports center of this part of our country made it attractive partner for cooperation. “Only the fact that direct flights from Nis  to seven different destinations in Germany provides unprecedented opportunities for increasing the volume of cooperation, both in the economy, as well as in tourism, culture, higher education and all other important segments of life,” Bulatovic said. The Head of the Bavarian delegation Mr. Martin Grossman said that he was impressed by what he saw and heard about Nis and its surroundings, where there were already several large German companies, and that this visit would certainly result in further linking and getting to know future partners because, as he said, the first step must always be getting to know potential partners and gaining confidence, which would, of course, lead to an increase in trade, economic, and any other cooperation between Bavaria and the South of Serbia.