August 22^nd

His Eminence Bishop Arsenije, the Bishop of Nis, met today with the Nis City Mayor Darko Bulatovic at Nis City Hall and discussed the further cooperation of the City and the Nis Diocese of the Serbian Orthodox Church. This is the first official visit of His Grace Bishop Arsenije since he has been elevated to the Throne of Diocesan Bishops of Nis. The previous cooperation between the City and the Serbian Orthodox Church Diocese of Nis was at an exceptional level. Mayor Bulatovic said that the City of Nis, in accordance with its financial capabilities, would help build churches and provide other forms of assistance. He said that the doors of the City Hall were always open. His Grace Bishop of Nis Arsenije emphasized that the priority of the Nis Diocese was to complete the construction of the Temple of St. Basil of Ostrog. He stressed that he was confident that the City and the Serbian Orthodox Church would continue to cooperate successfully. On this occasion, he announced the visit of the Patriarch of Alexandria to Nis in September and stressed that this visit was a good opportunity for the City and the Serbian Orthodox Church to host such a high delegation that would be led by the Patriarch of Alexandria.

August 21^st

On the occasion of the forthcoming mountaineering expedition to Mount Fuji in Japan, which will be held in the period from August 23^rd to September 4^th, the member of which for the first time will be the citizen of Nis Miroslav Dokman the reception was organized at Nis City Hall during which Nis City Deputy Mayor Milos Bandjur presented the ceremonial flag of the City of Nis, which will be hanged on the highest peak of Japan. “The City of Nis is looking forward to the success of every fellow citizen, we see it as our success; we are pleased that Miroslav Dokman was last year the member of the expedition that won the highest peak of Europe and Russia-Elbrus. This year he is going to climb the highest peak of Japan-Mount Fuji and we are proud that today we could present the flag of the City of Nis to him to be put up on Fuji on the morning of the sunrise in the land of the emerging sun, “said the Deputy Mayor Milos Bandjur. Miroslav Dokman has been engaged in hiking for more than a decade.

August 18^th

At the press conference held today at Nis City Hall the local economic development programme measures were presented envisaged by the City of Nis with the objective of creating favorable business environment, new jobs, conditions for establishing the company and strengthening the competitiveness of Nis economy. There are ongoing public calls for each of the above stated programme measures. According to the Assistant Mayor Dragoslav Pavlovic, the expected effects of the local economic development program are increasing the availability of credit lines, increasing the visibility and competitiveness of MSME products, improving the business and developing new products and services, improving the business climate and growth of investments at the local level, increasing the number of self-employed and employed persons etc.

Head of the Office for Local Economic Development Milan Randjelovic pointed out that the local government launched the public call on august 11^th for the allocation of incentive funds in the framework of the realization of the local economic development program, inviting banks interested in short-term lending to business entities from Nis with the participation of the city subsidizing interest on loans for the procurement of working capital, covering costs of purchasing machinery and equipment for modernization of the production process, stabilization of production, investments in new modern means of production and operation, construction, reconstruction and renovation of office space, new employment. The minimum loan for which the interest will be subsidized is 100,000.00 dinars, and the maximum amount of 1,500,000.00 dinars. For this purpose the City of Nis has allocated 5,000,000.00 dinars. According to Randjelović the deadline for submission of bids is August 21^st.

In addition to this, the City of Nis also envisaged the following measures: internationalization, improvement of competitiveness and improvement of cooperation between the companies and educational institutions that are accredited. For realization of the measure of internationalization 3 million dinars are foreseen, and for this measure, public calls for businesses and clusters with business headquarters in Nis were launched on August 15^th. According to Randjelovic, the promotion of competitiveness is a measure of providing assistance to micro, small and medium-sized enterprises through implementation of standards, certification and recertification, market research, testing of new products, The funds, he adds, are allocated to cover 50% of the eligible costs, with a limit of up to 300,000.00 dinars per company. The planned amount for realization of the measure is 6 million dinars, the public call was announced on August 15^th and the funds were provided in the budget. 4 million dinars were secured for the improvement of cooperation between the companies and education-scientific institutions.

According to the Member of Nis City City Council for Economy Mihajlo Zdravkovic the City of Nis has allocated 30 million dinars from the budget this year for incentives for employment of hard-to-employ labor categories and this project is being implemented in cooperation with the National Employment Service Branch in Nis which provided 24 million. The public call for self-employment is open until August 30^th. So far 56 requests have been submitted. Public invitation for subsidy for employment of persons from the hard-to-employ category  is open until November 30^th, i.e. until all the available funds have been spent. According to the program of professional practice 25 persons have been hired and this public call is closed as well as the public call for participation in public works, through which 94 people were hired.

August 5^th

Nis City Mayor Darko Bulatovic and the Member of Nis City Council for Culture Jelena Mitrovski met today with the actors of the Academic Theatre of the Nis Student Cultural Center who won the first place ward at the International Festival of Student Theatre KESTENBURG in Banja Luka. The purpose of the festival is to gather talented students from the whole world, in order to create an environment for experience exchange and cooperation between local and international art students and theatre enthusiasts. It will give a chance to everybody who enjoys theatre to experience different performances and meet foreign students.

August 1^st

Nis City Mayor Darko Bulatovic signed the contract with internally displaced persons who were granted the right to be helped to improve the living conditions while being internally displaced through the grant of assistance in the purchase of rural houses with a garden and additional help for the material for the adaptation of these houses. The value of the project is 11.3 million dinars, and this type of assistance was received by 10 beneficiaries, 180000 dinars for each of them. Also, the contracts for assistance to improve the living conditions of internally displaced persons by granting them building materials packages were signed today. The value of this project is 5.5 million dinars, per beneficiary ranging from 180000 to 550000 dinars. This assistance was received by 15 beneficiaries. The funds were jointly provided by the Commissariat for Refugees and Migration and the City of Nis.

August 1^st

Deputy Prime Minister of Serbia and Minister of Construction, Transport and Infrastructure, prof. Dr Zorana Mihajlovic said today that Nis Airport Constantine the Great was an example of how the cooperation between the state, local self-government, state and local companies has yielded good results, because in three years the number of passengers increased from 1,300 in 2014 to more than 183,000.  “We worked as a team – the Government of Serbia, the City of Nis, Nikola Tesla Airport, Constantine the Great Airport, the Civil Aviation Directorate, SMATSA – with the common goal of developing Nis Airport according to all standards”, Mihajlovic said after the visit to Nis Airport cargo terminal and at the signing of the contract on the donation of equipment worth 400,000 euros by the Belgrade airport. Mihajlovic said that the investments in the furnishing of the Nis airport will surely continue, as the number of passengers and goods constantly increases. “We will soon choose the project designer for the tower to be built next year, which is one of the conditions for Nis Airport to be completely ready to become a Belgrade Reserve Airport,” she said. “The plan for the next four years is to invest 6.3 million into Nis Airport to make it even more developed and more modern than it is now “, added Mihajlovic.

Nis City Mayor Darko Bulatovic thanked Nikola Tesla Airport for donations and Vice-President Mihajlovic for the support to the citizens of Nis and the whole region of South Serbia. “After so many years of stagnation, Nis and the south of Serbia have a reason to hope and see a prospect and a better future. I would like to express my gratitude to the Belgrade airport on the donation and to the Ministry and the Government for support without which we would not survive all the difficult years that are behind us. Today, Nis airport is a real airport and an example of how to fight for a better standard and living conditions “, Mayor Bulatovic said. He added that the city budget for the next year will no longer have costs for peoples’ salaries at the airport, and that the city would invest only in equipment and reaching the highest standards.

Saša Vlaisavljevic, acting general manager of the Aiport Nikola Tesla, said that both Belgrade and Nis airports are part of the air traffic system of Serbia and that with the support of the Government and the Ministry they record best business results. “Both the City of Nis and Nis Airport can count on us, and in autumn I expect to come again, with fire trucks, “said Vlaisavljevic. Vladica Djurdjanovic, the general manager of Nis Airport Constantine the Great, thanked the Belgrade airport for donations and the Government of Serbia for many years of support, adding that without this assistance, the Nis airport would not have had the results it has today, more than 183,000 passengers and nearly two thousand tons of goods transported for the first seven months of 2017. The donation of Nikola Tesla Airport to Constantine the Great Airport for which the contract was signed by the directors of two companies, Sasa Vlaisavljevic and Vladica Djurdanovic, is worth 400,000 euros and includes, among other things, X-ray machines for inspection of goods and mail, X-ray for inspection of luggage, three metal detector doors, as well as detectors for explosives for checking the hand luggage.

August 1^st

According to the data of the Republic Bureau of Statistics, in June, a record number of people who are not from Serbia visited Nis. According to the Statistical Office of the Republic of Serbia, “tourism turnover” increased by almost 60% in June, mostly thanks to foreign tourists. Even 67% more people visited Nis this June than last June. In figures, this is 6 300 tourists. In June this year Nis was visited by more citizens of Serbia than in the same period last year. It is even 49 percent more or 4,200 people. According to the Tourism Organization of Nis, from month to month, there are more and more tourists in the city, and this trend is noticeable starting from 2013, when Nis was categorized with the first category. In 2013, 60,000 tourists visited Nis, while three years later this figure was increased to 85,000. In the first six months of this year, there were 80,000 overnights in Nis, which positively reflects on the economy of the city because the city administration is collecting almost 12 million dinars from tourist tax paid by tourists. The number of tourists increased in Niska Banja by as much as 65 %, with the number of domestic tourists increasing by 115 and foreigners by 1,6 percent compared to June last year.

August 1^st

The City of Nis will continue to support the activities of young, talented people who achieve top results at prestigious international and domestic competitions in various fields of science or sport, as it was said today at a reception hosted at the Nis City Hall for some of them who participated in conferences outside the country in recent months with the support of the City of Nis. In the last two months, the City of Nis, through its Youth Office, supported the participation of as many as 57 young talents at various gatherings and competitions, and, as said, in the next year, they would seek to increase the funds for this purpose. The City of Nis is trying to help young talented people continue their development and improve their knowledge beyond the borders of our country, but also to create the necessary conditions for the development of science in Nis. Young talented people are a valuable human resource that needs to be presented and assisted in every way so that they would stay in their own city, present their results here. The care for the young must be systematic and continuous in order to improve their position and ensure their active participation in society.

July 29^th

Philippines based company IMI announced in Nis on July 30, that it would start building a facility for the production of electronic car components in the Lozni Kalem location in Niska Banja in August. Eric de Candido, Managing Director of IMI Bulgaria, pointed out that the 12,000-m2 facility would be completed in July 2018.

“The production facilities in the location will be built in three stages. The second one will entail the construction of a 8,000-m2 facility, and a facility with 4,000 square meters will be built in the third stage”, De Candido said at the Nis City House, at the official handing over of the building permit for the Lozni Kalem location. De Candido stated that more than 1,500 people would work in the facilities in Niska Banja in the next ten years. According to him, the production of electronic car parts in the new facility would meet all the requirements of the European Union.

Minister of Economy Goran Knezevic pointed out that 1,250 people would work in IMI Serbia as soon as July 2018. Mayor of Nis Darko Bulatovic pointed out that the local self-government had made maximum efforts in order for IMI to get a building permit as soon as possible.

July 29^th

The leading European producer of cables and cable systems for the automotive and other industries, Leoni, opened its third factory in Serbia on Saturday, July 29, 2017, in Nis, in the presence of President Aleksandar Vucic. The value of the investment is EUR 22 million, and the factory will employ 2,200 people. By pressing a button, Vucic initiated the first phase of the production in the new factory. The factory, which takes up over 22,000 square meters, will produce cable sets for BMW cars.

Leoni has been present in Serbia since 2009, when the BMW cable system factory in Prokuplje started operating. In 2013, a factory for the production of car cables for Land Rover and Jaguar opened in Malosiste near Doljevac. The total value of Leoni’s investments in Serbia so far amounts to EUR 75 million, and the newly raised factory in Nis will soon turn Leoni into the biggest employer in the production sector in Serbia with nearly 8,000 employees.

“Our goal is not just to be the biggest employer in Serbia, but to be the best employer – said Clemens Sachs”, director of Leoni in Serbia.

In the first quarter of the current year, the Leoni Group had net revenues of EUR 33.6 million, three times as much as in the corresponding period of 2016. Leoni is a global producer of wirings, optical fibers, cables and cable systems and similar components for the automotive industry and other related industries. The company has around 80,000 employees in 90 factories in 32 countries. Last year, Leoni had sales revenues of EUR 4.4 billion. The company was founded in 1917 in Nuremberg and is celebrating its 100th anniversary this year.

The official ceremony of putting the factory into operation was also attended by Minister of Economy Goran Knezevic, Clemens Sachs, executive vice president of Leoni, Ralf Maus, standing deputy ambassador of Germany, Alexander Jung, president of the Chamber of Commerce of Serbia, Marko Cadez, and Mayor of Nis Darko Bulatovic.