November 3^rd

Nis City Council Member for Sports Branisla Kacar met today at Nis City Hall with Teodora Ristic, young tennis player from Nis, who won International Tournament for the players up to 18 years of age held in Budapest. Mr. Kacar congratulated Teodora on the won title and and emphasized that the City, in accordance with its possibilities, would provide support to all young and talented athletes to properly represent Nis. Teodora is a member of Tennis Academy Zivkovic, which has produced many talented athletes and traditionally brings high-quality tennis players to Nis within international futures tournament.

October 25^th

Nis City Council Member for Sports Branislav Kacar met today with the double European and triple State Champion in the power lifting in the category up to 75 kilograms Ivan Stankovic and World and Balkan Champion in the teenage T2 category Nikola Stankovic. The city officials and young sportsmen discussed work and successes of the power lifting team from Nis, as well as the ways to further assist the development of competitors who achieve remarkable results on the international scene. Power lifting is a popular weightlifting discipline, and Ivan Stankovic is also the world record holder in the squad discipline in his category. Over the next year, these competitors will have new challenges such as the World Cup in Sarajevo and the Balkan Cup.

October 20^th

Representatives of the Russian delegation from Rostov and the Kozak businessmen association met the Nis Deputy Mayor Prof. Dr. Milos Bandjur and his associates and discussed the potentials of Nis and the environment for the establishment of economic cooperation, especially in the field of agriculture. This is only the first in a series of meetings to be organized in order to connect Russian and Serbian agricultural producers in order to increase the export of domestic products to the Russian market, in accordance with the required standards. In our region, 60 000 households are engaged in agriculture. One third of the territory occupies agricultural land and most is under wheat, while only 12% is intended for fruit and vegetable production. Nis City Deputy Mayor Prof. Dr. Milos Bandjur said that the City of Nis was ready to support any form of cooperation with Russian businessmen. He added that the Russian delegation was informed about the potential of cooperation with our city, mostly in the field of agriculture, but also about the possibilities for cooperation in the processing of agricultural products and exports to Russia. The Deputy Mayor stressed that it was possible to improve cultural cooperation and emphasized the importance of spiritual connections between the two countries, but it was of paramount importance to extend these relations to the economy. One of the representatives of the Russian delegation, Mr. Vasilij Filipovic Hejlo, said that the goal of their arrival in Nis was to help the Kozaks in Serbia, as well as to establish the economic base and cooperation with businessmen in Serbia.

October 15^th

“The goal of the city management is to revive the abandoned and devastated sports terrains on the location of Small Trench in the Fortress which used to be used for recreation by Nis citizens for more than a decade, and which are now in a very bad condition”, said Nis City Council Member for Sports Branislav Kacar who visited the location together with the State Secretary of the Ministry of Youth and Sports Predrag Perunicic. This project City plans to realize in three phases. The first phase includes basketball courts with stands and dressing rooms; the second one is about the reconstruction of volleyball courts, while the third includes football field and athletic track. The goal of this project is to provide multifunctional sports facility that will activate and encourage all children and youth, as well as all other citizens of Nis, to engage in sports and recreational activities. At the same time, new terrains for recreation, preparatory and competitive activities would be provided for volleyball, handball, basketball, gymnastics and athletics. Perunicic and Kacar also visited the location in Brzi Brod where the construction of an athletic track with all the athletic battlefields is planned. State Secretary Perunicic promised that the competent ministry will do everything to give the city support for the implementation of the reconstruction project for this sports complex, in order for it to be put into operation. Perunicic emphasized that the ministry’s goal is to make recreational sport a mass activity.

October 15^th

RS Minister of Youth and Sports Vanja Udovicic, accompanied by Nis City Council Member for Sports Branislav Kacar visited the DELI Center for Creative Activity in Nis, an area that represents an example of good practice in the country and the region as a successful mechanism for employment of young people. For this project, the Ministry of Youth and Sports allocated 2.3 million RSD in 2015, within the Public Invitation for Financing and Co-financing Programs and Projects for Implementation of the Objectives of the National Youth Strategy. DELI Center project in Nis is being implemented by the Organization PROACTIVE. The aim of the project is to hire young people and open new companies through the initial support that DELI Center for Creative Activity provides through the organization of internships and education of practitioners, lectures and open doors of DELI Center as well as study visits of young people from Nis, Prokuplje and Krusevac. This Center allows young people to save and strengthen their business precisely through cost savings, but also to prepare them, through various types of support, for the upcoming challenges of managing it. Minister Udovicic said that we should influence the thinking of young people and give them confidence that they could start their business through the concept that was created here. A large number of young people use DELI space programs, more than 1,000 young people go through various programs and events a month, and there are 12 tenants who have founded their businesses, 3 interns and 4 employees in new companies. “What we did here in Nis with very few resources gave a huge result. At the general level in the world, if 20% of young people get out of these kinds of premises, it is considered a successful concept. Today, we have the situation that 50% of the young people who left DELI, after a year, founded their own companies and hired new young people and thus gave a clear message to young generations that life and future can be based in their villages and that they do not have to think about leaving their hometowns in order to succeed,”said Minister Udovicic.

October 14^th

RS Minister without Portfolio Milan Krkobabić, who will be in charge of coordinating and directing the work of public companies in the next period, pointed out today in Nis that the goal of the Government of Serbia was to establish better coordination between republic and city public companies. At the meeting with the directors of all public companies in Nis, founded either by the City or the State, Minister Krkobabic talked about the real problems that those companies were facing in order to take the right steps in the future to overcome these problems. Krkobabić pointed out that all public enterprises must face essential reforms, business and financial, and that the goal was to make all these companies profitable, to further develop and to contribute to the budget. At the same time, he pointed out that it was very important that companies were socially responsible and that they were expected to improve the quality of their services. “The goal of this government is to put the companies on healthy feet and it is good that in this business, which is not easy, we have the support of employees and representative unions”, said Minister Krkobabic. The meeting was also attended by Nis City Council Members Svetozar Aleksov and Igor Vojinović.

October 14^th

RS Minister of Transport and Infrastructure Zorana Mihajlovic, Minister of Education, Science and Technological Development Mladen Sarcevic and Minister of Youth and Sports Vanja Udovicic visited today the new building of the primary school “Ivo Andrić” in Nis. The director of this school, Milica Petkovic, introduced a high delegation of the Government of Serbia to the functioning of this school, which recently got a new facility with its modern teaching and well-equipped gym space. Minister Sarcevic announced that the weekly curricula would additionally be enriched with sports activities. Nis City Council Members Branislav Kacar and Bojan Krstic were also part of the delegation. This visit was the occasion for the ministers to hand over the sports requisites and balls that would be used in the regular classes.

October 14^th

RS Minister of Education, Science and Technological Development Mladen Sarcevic spoke today at the City Hall with the Nis City Deputy Mayor Prof. Dr. Milos Bandjur and his associates on the realization of projects of the highest importance for the city, university and school. One of the ministries’ priorities is the construction of the annex building at the Faculty of Electronic Engineering in Nis, where laboratories and scientific research centers for young scientists would be located. At the same time Minister Sarcevic announced an increase in student enrollment quotas for studies in the IT sector. The Minister also promised that the team of lawyers of the Ministry of Education, Science and Technological Development would be determined. The minister announced new meetings with city officials to concretize co-operation in several fields.

October 3^rd

Nis City Deputy Mayor Milos Bandjur visited the students of the first year of the Nis Faculty of Law on the first day of the new school year. “You have chosen a faculty that is rather demanding, but it has a long tradition, and from these school benches bore successful lawyers, judges, professors and lawyers. A new stage in your life is before you, different from what you have before. Of course, student days bring many nice moments and hanging out with colleagues, new friendships are born that I believe will last for whole life. Standing here in front of you, I sincerely believe in fron of the future prominent members of this community, I have to remember the famous words saying, “Every man has two beginnings: the day when he was born, and the day he discovered why he was born. I am convinced that you now know very well why you were born and how you should shape your life in the future”, said Nis City Deputy Mayor on the occasion of the new school year beginning for Nis University students.

September 14^th

The Futures Tournament in tennis was opened in Nis which gathered more than 100 tennis players from 30 countries this year. Nis Open is important for young players, who have the opportunity to get important points for the ATP list, and if it is judged by the prize pool, this tournament is the highest quality futures tournament organized in our country this year. For six years, the traditional tennis competition has been assisted by the City of Nis. Nis City Council Member for Sports Branislav Kacar emphasized that thus the development of tennis was supported, but also Nis was promoted due to the international character of this competition. The prize fund of the Nis Open is $ 25,000. The matches are played on the courts of the Tennis Academy Zivković at Bubanj.