June 26

The beginning of the International Exercise on Disaster Consequence Management Serbia 2019 was marked at the Serbian Russian Humanitarian Center in Nis.  The exercise is jointly organized by the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Republic of Serbia and the Ministry of Emergency Situations of the Russian Federation, with the participation of about 700 representatives of rescue units from Serbia, Russia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Northern Macedonia, Hungary, Turkey, Cuba and the Russian-Armenian Humanitarian Center. In the next three days, they will demonstrate their training and equipment for disaster response and disaster consequence management in several locations in Nis and the surrounding area. The ceremony of the beginning of the exercise was attended by the Deputy Minister of Civil Defense and Emergency Situations of Russia Alexander Chuprian and State Secretary of the Serbian Ministry of Interior Milosav Milickovic who pointed out the importance of prevention, joint exercises and training, bearing in mind the changing weather conditions, climate change, and challenges we were facing which did not distinguish the state and administrative boundaries. Nis City Mayor Darko Bulatovic and his deputy Milos Bandjur, as well as a large number of high officials of the Serbian Ministry of Internal Affairs, the Emergency Situation Sector, the Gendarmerie, and the Mountain Rescue Service, the Red Cross and other humanitarian organizations and specialized units from Serbia attended the opening ceremony. After the opening ceremony, the demonstration exercise of the members of the Emergency Situations Department of the Serbian Ministry of Internal Affairs and the Ministry of Emergency Situations of Russia was shown, and the following days of the specialized team would demonstrate their skills and training at several locations in Nis and the surrounding area.

June 17

Nis City Mayor Darko Bulatovic, the Member of Nis City Council for Sports Branislav Kacar and Director of Nis Tourism Organisation Uros Parlic greeted the participants of the Basketball March in front of Nis City Hall. Thus the counting down of the last 10 days before the beginning of Women’s EuroBasket 2019 started. On this occasion the Mayor pointed out that Nis was ready for the tournament and that it would be the best possible host to the national teams of

Hungary, Turkey, Italy and Slovenia which would be playing their matches in Sports Hall Cair. The girls, the participants of the Basketball March, presented the official ball of the championship to the Mayor and then went on, followed by the drums, to march through main city streets drawing attention of the public to the start of the Women’s EuroBasket Championship in Serbia and Nis in 10 days. The matches will be played in Nis, Zrenjanin and Riga (Latvia) while the final match will be played in Belgrade.

June 17

The Sixth International Festival of Choir Spiritual Music “Edict of Music” began at Saint Sava’s Hall. The festival was opened by Nis City Mayor Darko Bulatović, who welcomed the guests, and the audience was addressed by the Bishop of Nis Arsenije.  “Looking back we can see that the need of a man to address the God in hymns is as old as his need for the prayer. By harmonious ordering of words and melodic chanting and music, mankind sought its path to the Lord from the moment in which the man felt the need to pray”, said Bishop of Nis Arsenije. “Here we are for the sixth time, I would say with the higher artistic and every other level, at the Edict of Music Festival, the pride of our city. Thank you all for everything you do and contribute to the cultural life of our city”, said Mayor Bulatovic. At the Sixth International Festival of Choral Spiritual Music “Edict of Music” 19 choirs from 11 countries from three continents are participating, and this time guests came from North and South America. These days about 500 singers from all over the world will sing in Nis.

June 7

The 50^th anniversary of the Serbian-Norwegian Association was marked in Nis. The ceremony was attended by Ms. Marina Kostic, the Assistant Mayor, who welcomed the guests on the behalf of Nis City. The president of this association Zoran Petrovic spoke about the great friendship of two nations. The aim of the Serbian – Norwegian Association is to spread friendship between the two nations that dates back to World War II, when thousands of Serbs were in Nazi concentration camps in Norway, where they encountered enormous friendship and support from the Norwegian people. The association also engages in the presentation of Serbian culture, tradition and history in Norway, organizing contacts between Serbian and Norwegian families and mutual acceptance, organizing study visits of pupils and students in both directions, organizing business contacts between Serbian and Norwegian businessmen and contacts of Norwegian municipalities with municipalities in Serbia.

June 5

The International Scientific Symposium “Nis and Byzantium” was held at the University of Nis within the scope of celebration traditional city festivities dedicated to the city patrons Saint Emperor Constantine and Empress Helen. The conference was attended by well-known Byzantium researchers from Serbia and the countries of Europe. 41 participants from Turkey, Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary, Ukraine, Russia, Greece, Northern Macedonia, Montenegro, Republika Srpska and Serbia took part with in the work of the conference. Nis City Assistant Mayor Ms. Marina Kostic met at Nis City Hall at farewell reception with the participants of this scientific symposium, which became a brand and a recognizable sign of Nis. “The participants in the symposiums Nis and Byzantium for 18 years has studied and pointed out the importance of Nis as the city for the modern European civilization. This year the conference was dedicated to the 800 years since the Autocephaly of the Serbian Church (1219-2019): Church, Politics and Art in Byzantium and Neighboring Countries.

June 4

Huawei Company representatives visited Nis and met and discussed the cooperation on the project Nis – Smart City with Nis City Mayor Darko Bulatović and his associates, as well as with the representatives of the Ministry of Trade, Tourism and Telecommunications. At the working meeting at Nis City Hall Huawei’s delegation presented the potentials and capabilities of this technology giant, which had already been implemented in a number of cities, and whose functioning greatly enhanced the functionality of these cities and had a particularly positive impact on the quality of life of residents. This is primarily reflected in the reduction of traffic and communal problems, which again leads to a reduction in pollution, energy efficiency, and savings in electricity and ultimately in saving money needed for the functioning of the most important city systems. The Mayor expressed great satisfaction with the speed of implementation of the agreed because, as he said, barely over a month passed since the visit of Serbian national state delegation to China and the exchange visits of the City of Nis delegation and Huawei Company delegation already happened. “This tells us about the importance of this project, but also about our desire to include Nis as one of the world’s major cities in which the Smart City system is already functioning and delivering excellent results, primarily for the benefit of the citizens,” Bulatovic said. Milan Dobrijevic from the Ministry of Telecommunications said that it was important to define the priorities and dynamics of the project implementation, and as soon as possible to determine the systems where the smart technology would be implemented first. “At this moment, there are a range of 15 offered opportunities and the expert teams of the Ministry, the City of Nis and Huawei will define the first three whose implementation will be foreseen in the first phase, and that will be those systems that are most visible and beneficial for citizens, “said Dobrivić. The Mayor also walked with the guests from China to the central Nis streets, presented the history and culture, and invited them to be guests of our city, but at the time of the summer festivals, in order to meet Nis at its best.

May 24^th

The meeting of the representatives of the Faculty of Sports and Physical Education of the University of Nis and the representatives of the City of Nis took place at Nis City Hall on the occasion of the guest appearance of prof. Laura Capranika from the University of Rome Foro Italico. She spent a week in Nis and held a series of lectures for students and  professors of master and doctoral studies at the Faculty of Sport and Physical Education within the EU program Erasmus +. Professor Capranika is a renowned expert in dual education and dual career in the area of sports, advisor to the European Parliament for dual career and participant in a number of projects in the field of dual education. The meeting organized by the Nis City Assistant Mayor Marina Kostic was attended by the representatives of respective secretariats of Nis City Administration, Regional Chamber of Commerce in Nis, the Ministry of Education, Science and Technological Development – School Administration in Nis, the Faculty of Sport and Physical Education in Nis. On this occasion, the examples of good practice in the field of dual education in the European Union, the projects financed from EU funds, exclusively dedicated to the development of dual education, were presented. Professor Laura Capraniki highlighted the importance of applying sport in dual education and praised the personnel potential of the Faculty of Sport and Physical Education from Nis, but also stressed the importance of the expressed willingness of the local government to support the exchange of knowledge and experiences in the education system.

May 15^th

The International Day of Families was marked at Nis City Hall. The joint presentation of the family empowerment program was organized by the City of Nis and the organization “SOS Children’s Village Serbia”. The gathering in the City Hall was also attended by Nis City Mayor Darko Bulatovic and the member of Nis City Council for Social Care Affairs Ms. Tijana Djordjevic Ilic.”We have been implementing the family protection program for 5 years together with the Center for Social Work and we are trying to help empowering of this primary, but very important human community,” said Tijana Djordjevic Ilic. During the presentation of the program of work of SOS Children’s Village, it was said that the family was the basic cell of a society that provided security to an individual and that a healthy family was the foundation of a prosperous society. The Family Support Center Putokaz, which is committed to the implementation of the family strengthening program, has been already working in Nis for 5 years. By strengthening the family the society as a whole is strengthened at the same time.

May 11^th

Тhe EU Info Corner Nis in partnership with the City of Nis organized the Day of European values and thus marked the Week of Europe and three years of joint work at new premises in Vozdova Street. This event open for all citizens of Nis was organized at the city center. The event is part of the EU for You Campaign. The programme prepared for the event included the performances of the orchestra Impresija, children’s choir Carolija, youth dance group Boom 018, and the students of Secondary Grammar School Svetozar Markovic. Also the civil society organizations that have been actively working in the local community on promoting European values ​​and communicating took interactive and creative approach in introducing citizens to their work. The Day of European Values is part of the European Union Delegation Campaign in Serbia and the EU Info Network in Belgrade, Nis and Novi Sad and is being implemented under the title # EUzaTebe, with the idea to promote the results of EU development aid to Serbia in the process of European integration.

May 10^th

City of Nis and EU Info Point Nis marked the Day of Europe, May 9^th, by joint activity of 3 D Mapping Projection of the flags of the European Union and the Republic of Serbia on the building facade of Nis National Theatre. The facade of the theater in Nis became canvas for the symbolic conjunction of the synergy and joint efforts of the Republic of Serbia and the European Union in bringing our country closer to a community of European nations. This joint activity of the City of Nis and EU Info Point Nis was part of the #EUzaTEBE  umbrella campaign  implemented by European Delegation to Serbia and EU Info Network’s (EU Info Centre in Belgrade and EU Info Points in Novi Sad and Nis),  together with local partners with the aim of promoting the results of EU’s development assistance to Serbia as part of the European integration process.