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.

The Member of the Nis City City Council Mihajlo Zdravković signed the contract for the implementation of the project under the grant scheme Exchange 5 – EU support to local governments in the field of property management in Belgrade today. The RoS Minister of State Administration and Local Government Branko Ružić and RoS Minister for European Integration Jadranka Joksimović, as well as the representatives of the Ministry of Finance and Secretary General of the SCTM, Djordje Stanicic, attended the signing ceremony of the contract with the representatives of local self-governments whose projects were elected.

In order to increase the efficiency and transparency of the public administration through the improvement of property management, the City of Nis will, in partnership with the Municipality of Cuprija, implement the project “Efficient and Effective Property Management in Nis and Cuprija through the Introduction of the Geographic Information System”. The goal of the project is to create conditions for improving property management through the inventory and legalization of public property in Nis and Cuprija and increasing the transparency of public administration work, introducing and developing the Geographic Information System and creating an application for GIS. In this way public administration will be closer to the citizens and the business community.

Both Nis and Cuprija have a large number of different real estates, but without precise and legally relevant data. Bearing in mind that efficient management of public property is imposed as a priority requirement in the process of development and modernization, the partners jointly developed a project proposal to solve the identical problems that are encountered in this area. Nis and Cuprija intend to provide rational use and management of property in accordance with the Law on Public Property and the Law on Planning and Construction and to put the property in the function of investing and increasing the revenues of local self-government. In these two cities, currently, there is not any integrated system that connects all services and record and process data on real estate in public ownership. The existing approach does not give positive results, so we are faced with unregistered and unclassified property, irrational use of space and objects, relatively low rates of rent, using property without appropriate fees, lack of organization and professional staff and non-transparent and non-functional work of local administration.

The implementation of the project in Nis and Cuprija will create unique databases of integrated records for the entire property, together with applications for all aspects and property management processes. The specificity in connecting Nis and Cuprija is in the introduction and development of GIS as a software package that will integrate complete data on property and provide access to them for internal departments as well as for the citizens and potential investors. The use of this property management model owned by Nis and Cuprija means strengthening administrative capacities and more efficient property management, increasing revenue, better control of costs, better risk management and adequate asset maintenance. As inefficient use of public property costs all citizens, partner cities expect that, after the implementation of planned project activities, there will be a reduction in costs and an increase in revenues from property owned by two local governments.

The beneficiaries of the project are, first of all, the administrations of the local self-governments of Nis and Cuprija, i.e., the departments and services dealing with public property management, as well as the competent republic authorities. The project should contribute to the acquisition of new knowledge and skills of employees in local self-governments, which will result in more comprehensive fulfillment of their work tasks and improvement of work, and consequently, in providing better quality services to the citizens of Nis and Cuprija. It is of paramount importance to potential investors who will be able to obtain faster information about targeted locations, as well as for citizens who, as end-users, need a reliable, accountable and open administration. Improving the management of public assets and finances creates the possibility for savings in the budget as well as conditions for sustainable local economic development.

The project is EU-funded (IPA 2014) through the Exchange5 Program – EU Support to Local Governments in Property Management. The program is implemented by the Ministry of State Administration and Local Self-Government in cooperation with the Standing Conference of Towns and Municipalities (SCTM) as the implementing partner of the program and the Ministry of Finance (the Sector for Contracting and Financing Programs from EU funds) as the Contracting Authority in the program.

CHINESE DELEGATION IN NIS                                                                  

January 20^th

Nis City Mayor Darko Bulatovic with his associates met with the Chinese state-economic delegation at Nis City Hall. The Chinese delegation visited Nis, as part of a visit to Serbia organized by the Wanli Think Thank Association from Beijing. The delegation was led by Mr. Zhao Yue, the Secretary General. The visit of the delegation to Serbia is the result of the cooperation with the Center for Intercultural Communication and Mediation Konflaks whose president is the former Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Serbia Mr. Ivan Mrkic. The possibilities for cooperation were analyzed at the meeting and the investment opportunities were presented as well as the possible participation of the delegation of Chinese businessmen at this year’s Nis Advanced Technology Forum.

COOPERATION BETWEEN GIRONDE AND NIS IN EDUCATING YOUNG FIREFIGHTERS January 17^th

The reception was held at Nis City Hall for the guests from Gironde (France) within the framework of the cooperation project between the Gironde fire department and Nis Administrative and Business Secondary School that educates future firemen. The delegation was led by Maryse Dusselier, the Head   of the Department for International Relations, joined by Captain Vincent Latorre, the officer from the department for firefighting training, and Jacques Loche, the director of the college Champs-d ’Eymet à Pellegrue. The guests from France were received by Mr. Sasa Zivic, the Nis City Council Member and Mr. Milos Milosevic, the Assistant Mayor. The meeting was also attended by Honorary Consul of France in Serbia, Mr. Sasa Miljkovic, and the representatives of the Nis Administrative and Business Secondary School. The total value of this project is about 17 thousand euros, and the school from Nis is in charge of its technical implementation with the support of the Nis City Municipality Medijana. In the first year this project will focus on the exchange of French and Serbian professional associates in the training of students for the profile of volunteer firefighters. The delegation from Gironde will donate to Nis Administrative and Business Secondary School the necessary funds for implementation of practical classes for the educational profile of fire protection technician.

January 12^th

Nis City Mayor Darko Bulatovic met with the management of the Naisus Youth Philharmonic and the soloists performing at this year’s traditional New Year’s concert. Mayor Bulatovic pointed out that it was a real pleasure to see that even at this time, when the so-called “popular music” was absolutely dominant, the classical music still had its audience, and the traditional New Year’s concert has been proving it for years. That is precisely why this event is included in the line of public city events that are supported by the City of Nis, because the city without culture is like a body without soul,” said Bulatovic. The director, founder and conductor of the Youth Philharmonic Orchestra Naisus Zoran Andric said that the citizens of Nis would be able to enjoy an unforgettable and unique event. “Twelve soloists, six sopranos and six tenors in one place, at one concert, are something that has never been seen anywhere in the world. That is exactly why we decided to hold a concert with 12 soloists on January 12^th, before the Orthodox New Year, and to introduce a unique program that will be remembered for a long time, “said Andric. The guest coming from Italy, Argentina, Austria, Armenia, during the meeting with the Mayor, spoke about their impressions about the city and their expectations for Saturday’s concert. Marco Frusoni, one of the most respected Italian tenors, who has performed several times at the New Year’s concert in Nis, thanked the hosts for the warm welcome on the behalf of the performers.

January 11^th

By laying flower wreaths at the Monument to Liberators in the center of Nis, the Day of the liberation of Nis from the Turks, January 11^th, was marked. On this day when Nis, after almost five centuries of Turkish rule, was liberated 181 years ago from Ottoman slavery, Nis City Mayor Darko Bulatovic, the President of the City of Nis Assembly Rade Rajkovic, as well as the representatives of the army, the police, the Nisava Administrative District, the Serbian-Russian Humanitarian Center, the representatives of associations that nurture the traditions of the liberation wars, paid their respect to Nis liberators. On January 11, 1878, Nis was freed from the Turks and after nearly five centuries of slavery, merged with Serbia. The fighting for the liberation of Nis began in mid-December 1877, when the Ibar, Morava and Danube divisions crossed the Serbian-Turkish border and took positions northwest of the city, approaching five to eight kilometers. The Ibar division penetrated the south and cut the connection between Niš and Leskovac. Then the Serbian army won Pirot and Bela Palanka, disabling the connection of the Turkish garrison in Nis with troops in Sofia and conquered Selicevica mountain, closing the ring around Nis and on the south side.