The City Municipality of Palilula celebrated its Patron Saint -day “Assembly of Serbian Saints” on September 13th, in St. Nicholas Church.

The celebration, which was held with a limited number of invitees, along with the protection measures, was attended by the Chairman of Niš City Assembly, Mr. Boban Džunić, who is the former Chairman of the City Municipality of Palilula Assembly, and by the representatives of the city municipalities.

The Archpriest Staurophore and Rector of the Theological Seminary, Milutin Timotijevći, together with the clergy of the Eparchy of Niš, performed the traditional ritual of “cutting the feast cake”. The guests were greeted by the present-day President the City Municipality of Palilula, Mr. Bratislav Vuckovic. The host of this year’s celebration was Mr. Aleksandar Ždrale. This important day for the City municipality of Palilula has been celebrated since 2005.

The Chairman of Niš City Assembly, Mr.  Boban Džunić, appeared on local TV “Zona”. The occasion of his visit was the third session of Niš City Assembly, as well as the review of the attained activities at the very beginning of his term of office.  Explaining the work procedure of the institution he runs, the Chairman Džunić pointed out that the cooperation between the legislative and executive bodies is of crucial importance, and that he is personally very satisfied with the current mode of their mutual functioning.

The Chairman announced the recent formation of other parliamentary working bodies – commissions and councils, as well as the continuation of the implementation of the E-Parliament project, which will contribute to the liable, efficient and transparent work of the City Assembly of Niš. In accordance with that, the Chairman pointed out that the City Assembly is open to all initiatives and issues, taken both by the media representatives and all the citizens, whose interests are the main guideline in the work of the highest legislative Niš City body, in compliance with all the provisions of the Code of Ethics for the local self-government officials.

You can watch the video here:

The third session of the Assembly of the City of Niš was held today. The session, which had nine items on the agenda, was held in the Officer’s Club due to the respect of epidemiological measures and in compliance with the recommendation of the Emergency Situations Headquarters of the City of Niš.

The financial statement of the city of Niš was adopted at the session, which, as the Chairman of Niš City Assembly, Mr. Boban Džunić, explained in his address to the press, was included as an item on the agenda in accordance with the Article 82 of the Rules of Procedure of the Assembly, given that the deadline for his adoption was the 11th of September, 2020, whereas the Report of the State Audit Institution, which is an integral part of the aforementioned decision, arrived on the 9th of September, 2020.

Regarding the amendment to the Decision on Communal Order, the Chairman Džunić pointed out that the proposed amendment would regulate the working hours of catering facilities in the City of Niš, in compliance with the regulation prescribed by the Serbian Government, during the period of the transmission dynamics of COVID-19.

In addition, decisions related to the appointment of the Chief urbanist of the City of Niš, to the establishment of the Commission for Plans, and to the decision on the establishment of the Emergency Situations Headquarters of the City of Niš, were adopted at this session.

The Chairman of Niš City Assembly, Mr. Boban Džunić held a meeting with the heads of the Councilor groups in the Assembly of the City of Niš today. The session was attended by Mr. Zvezdan Milovanović, the head of the Councilor group ALEKSANDAR VUČIĆ – FOR OUR CHILDREN, by Prof. dr. Mile Ilić, the head of the Councilor group IVICA DAČIĆ – SOCIALIST PARTY OF SERBIA, UNITED SERBIA – DRAGAN MARKOVIĆ PALMA, by Mr. Dragoslav Ćirković, the head of the Councilor group NIŠ, MY CITY, by Mr. Nikola Marinković, the head of the Councilor group SPAS NIŠ, and by Mr. Slavoljub Savić, the head of the Councilor group UNITED PENSIONERS OF SERBIA-PUPS.

During the discussion on the planned items on the agenda of the 3rd session of the City Assembly of Niš, scheduled for Wednesday, on September 9th, 2020, the Chairman Džunić pointed out his readiness to all proposals that would improve the future work of the Niš City Assembly.

In addition to the good and constructive cooperation with the executive part of the administration, the Chairman Džunić stressed out that the Department for the City Assembly Affairs is available to all Councilor groups in terms of professional assistance and in-work support.

The constitutive session of the Committee for Mandate and Immunity Issues was held in the Assembly of the City of Niš, on the 3rd of September, 2020.  The head of this parliamentary working body is MS Rade Rajković, whereas  its members are Goran Milosavljević, Mima Živković, Ivan Krstić, Zoran Janković, Dušan Todorović and Uroš Vukanović.

In addition to getting acquainted with the Rules of Procedure, the Committee adopted the draft decision on confirming the mandate of the newly elected councilors of the City Assembly of Niš and submitted it to the City Assembly.

The first sitting of the Administrative Issues Committee was held in Niš City Assembly on Friday, on 28th of August 28, 2020. The Administrative Issues Committee is headed by Nikola Ilić, and the members of the Committee are Miljana Kostić, Marko Ljubenović, Ivana Cvetković, Vuk Popović, Darko Nikolić and Milena Kostadinović.

The Chairman of Niš City Assembly, Mr. Boban Džunić, attended the introductory part of the sitting of the Committee and on that occasion he wished them a good cooperation and successful work. The Chairman Džunić stressed out that the members of the Committee would have all the necessary professional assistance of the Department for the City Assembly Affairs as well as his own.

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.

August 10^th

Nis City Mayor Darko Bulatovic submitted a two-year report on his work and the work of the City Council to the members of Nis City Assembly. The most significant result was the stabilization of city finances, regular settlement of all financial obligations, and repayment of debts from the previous period in the amount of 2.6 billion dinars without taking any new loans from the banks, neither for current liquidity nor for the allowed bank overdraft. Also, according to him, this period was marked by the great support from the President of the Republic and the Government, both in financial and investment segments, facilitating the city to become a major regional center of this part of our country, through the implementation of the projects such as: completion of highway corridors, reconstruction of the railway line, investment in the airport, completion of the Clinical Center, activities on the construction of a roundabout and reconstruction of the railway line from Nis to Dimitrovgrad, a new plant for wastewater treatment, 6 new factories, reconstruction of schools, support for reconstruction of facades. Bulatovic pointed out that both the President and the Government were in Nis several times, as well as numerous ambassadors, whose visits aimed at providing support for the development of this part of Serbia. “New jobs, employment, a better standard of our fellow citizens, more satisfied people, this is all what we striving for,” Bulatovic said. The Mayor said that there were things he was not satisfied with:” “The debts that we inherited from the previous period, which we had to return, burdened us, and at the same time we had to settle regularly the current bills and financial commitments.  Until this moment we have successfully dealt with this, and I am confident that we will continue to solve these problems successfully. Never before has the City of Nis had such big investments, big projects. In solving the communal problems for Hum, Brenica and other parts of the city, in the next year, we will allocate at least one billion dinars more than this year, and that is why we need more project designers. We have allocated 6.5 million dinars for projects design outside the jobs entrusted to the Institute for Urban Planning, so that we would be more prepared for the projects that are ahead of us,” the Mayor concluded.

December 26^th

The President of the Commission for the City of Nis Annual Awards 11^th January announced the names of the winners of this year’s highest award of the City of Nis. The commission unanimously decided that the laureates for this year would be two individuals and two collectives. For individuals, these are: the oncologist Mrs. Sladjana Filipovic and the writer Mr. Zoran Pesic Sigma. The award for teams this year would go to the prestigious secondary schools: Grammar School Bora Stankovic and Medical School Milenko Hadzic. The ceremonial session of the City of Nis Assembly, when the awards will be presented, will be held on January 11^th, 2018 at the Officers Mess Building.

This year the annual UN Climate Change Conference was held in the former West German political capital – Bonn. This is one of the largest conventions under the auspices of the UN, which gathers the representatives of all UN member states at the highest level, the representatives of the NGO sector and the activists. The main topics of this year UN Conference in Bonn (COP23) were the levels of the implementation of the previous major agreements on climate change in Rio, in Kyoto and in Paris, as well as the latest challenges that include extreme weather conditions such as wildfires, floods, storms and tropical heat waves.

What is significant for the city of Niš is that for the first time, since the UN Conference on Climate Change has been held, equal participation has been taken by the representatives of the regions and the leaders of the local self-governments worldwide, within the special Climate Summit of the local and regional leaders, as the official part of COP23. The Chairman of the Niš City Assembly, M.S. Rade Rajkovic, at the invitation of the Mayor of Bonn, and since being a representative of the Council of European Municipalities and Regions, took part in the Conference and the Summit held from November 11^th to 13^th, 2017, whereas he was the sole representative from Serbia and the region.

Activities at the Summit were made up of the official and informal parts, whereas the key topic of the discussion was the way to reduce the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, which is largely released by the combustion of coal and oil. Research suggests that the increase in the average air temperature of over 2 degrees Celsius over the coming years would lead to catastrophic consequences and negative climate change.

At the Summit, attended by over 1000 delegates and over 330 political leaders from over 80 countries worldwide, the Chairman of the Niš City Assembly, during his address, as well as in the conversations with the mayors from several dozen cities worldwide, stated that the City of Niš was ready to deal with climate change and that all necessary steps would be undertaken in order to increase energy efficiency and ensure the sustainability of the energy system in the city. This is only possible through energy efficiency projects, which would contribute to the significant reduction in exhaust emissions, with the aim to make the city of Niš a pioneer in the field of climate and the environmental protection in the region.

At the Summit, the Chairman Rajkovic stated that the city of Niš had the opportunity to improve energy efficiency and increase the use of renewable energy sources, which included energy savings, the introduction of cleaner and renewable energy sources, recycling and treatment of water pollution, electrification of public transport, economical public lighting and other preventive and practical models for eco-friendly environment. In addition, everything mentioned, could be achieved through the international forums, exchange of experience and project financing, stated the chairman in his address.

Moreover, the Chairman Rajkovic discussed those and similar problems related to one of the biggest threats to humanity – climate change during the bilateral meetings with his colleagues on the sidelines of the Summit.  The Chairman of the Niš City Assembly also talked about the willingness of the City of Niš to deal with climate change and concrete co-operation with other cities and countries with the California Governor, Mr. Jerry Brown, with the Mayor of Hiroshima, Mr. Macui Kazumi, with the Mayor of Bonn, Mr. Ashok Sirdharan, with the Special Envoy of the Kingdom of Morocco in UN, Mr. Hakim El-Haite, as well as with many other political leaders and experts in this field from Africa, the USA, Asia and Europe.

Special guest speakers at the Summit were Bertrand Picard, the world leader in the Solar Impulse Project, as well as the former California Governor, and present chairman of the R20- Regions of Climate Change Action, Mr. Arnold Schwarzenegger.