The Day of Healthy Cities was marked for the third time in a row in Nis.  Besides Belgrade and Novi Sad, Nis is one of the cities that, as a responsible local community, support the efforts of all relevant institutions and organizations to make our city a healthy environment, an environment that looks into the future and enables its citizens to achieve full health capacity. According to the Nis City Deputy Mayor Milos Bandjur, who welcomed the guest on the behalf of the City of Nis, the concern for the health of our population is a priority of the city and an important task that must be solved systematically and where all institutions, organizations and individuals must be involved. “The concept of a healthy life and a healthy city is the issue, of both personal and social responsibility. As a responsible local community, the City of Nis has always supported healthy lifestyles and promoted sports and skills that preserve and promote physical as well as mental and spiritual health, “Deputy Mayor said. He added that the City of Nis, together with the Institute for Public Health and all partner institutions in the field of public health, was trying to answer all the challenges that lie ahead of the modern city, such as air pollution, noise, etc. “Our goal is for the City of Nis to be a healthy and desirable place for the life of all its citizens, and this can be achieved only in the environment that has adequate urban planning, the health and social protection system, communal policies and a stabilized employment rate. Healthy cities are cities that represent a safe, desirable, healthy and happy environment for every citizen, “Deputy Mayor said.

The delegation of the City of Nis, led by Mayor Dark Bulatovic, visited the City of Serres in Northern Greece on the occasion of signing the Twinning Protocol. The Protocol was signed by the mayors of two cities Darko Bulatovic and Petros Agelidis. “The friendly relations between our peoples and states, above all, as well as history and everything that connected us through history, gave us the right and the reason to sign the twinning protocol, which created the conditions for further progress of good relations and the cooperation, at the cultural, educational, sports and economic level. In this way, we will achieve our goal, create conditions for peace, connectivity in the region, contribute to the development of our cities in the future”, said Mayor Darko Bulatovic after the signing ceremony. The signing ceremony was also attended by city and church officials of Seres and by the Consul of the Republic of Serbia in Thessaloniki, Siniša Pavic.

More than 1400 secondary school graduating students danced at the main city square as the part of the manifestation Dance with Europe – Secondary School Prom Parade. The students from all secondary schools in Nis danced to the quadrille by Johan Strauss Operetta Blind Mouse. According to the Nis City Deputy Mayor Milos Bandjur, who greeted the gathered graduates, this manifestation symbolized the unity of youth, peace, tolerance and style among peoples. “Our graduates today are finishing one stage in their lives and enter into a new, much more serious and creative one. I hope that each of them will find their place and realize their wishes and dreams, “said Deputy Mayor. A good weather and a very positive atmosphere contributed, with a large number of graduates, to sending a message from Nis that the borders do not exist and that the dance brings people together.

In June this year Nis will host the biggest children’s music competition “Serbia in the Rhythm of Europe”. High school students and primary school students, who represented Turkey last year, won this competition. So this year the competitors from 22 towns of Serbia who will sing in the languages ​​of 22 European countries will compete for this year’s award. In order to promote the competition and the Nis as its host the representatives of more than 20 embassies in Serbia, as well as representatives of municipalities and cities came to Nis. Welcoming the guest Nis City Mayor Darko Bulatovic said that this children’s festival was a good opportunity for children to get acquainted with different cultures, but also the languages ​​of participating countries. In addition, the festival is an occasion for children to get ot know each other and to learn about European values.

Nis City Mayor Darko Bulatovic met today with the Ambassador of Sweden Mr. Jan Lundin on the occasion of his visit to Nis. The direct reason for the visit of the Swedish ambassador is the preparation of the big music festival for children Serbia in the Rhythm of Europe that would be held in Nis in June. This music festival is jointly assisted by the embassies of European countries in Serbia, since each of the city participants represented a country from Europe by singing in the language of those countries. Serbia and Sweden have excellent diplomatic relations. There are a lot of Serbs living in Sweden. As a developed but primarily responsible country, Sweden is helping Serbia in its efforts to integrate into the European Union, and many projects of importance for infrastructure modernization are supported by Sweden. Two officials discussed the cooperation between two countries and especially the projects implemented in Nis and assisted by Sweden.

The contracts were signed today with grantees within the project “Support to Socio-economic Stability in the Western Balkan Region” implemented by the German organization Help. Through the allocation of grants in equipment, business and vocational training, networking and mentoring, project activities will contribute to economic empowerment of the target group, reducing poverty and increasing employment opportunities, using mechanisms to enhance the development of micro businesses in targeted cities and municipalities. The target groups of the project are startup, micro and small businesses, unemployed young people, women, national minorities, people with disabilities and less employable population categories. The overall goal of the program is to increase the capacity of economically and socially vulnerable groups of the population and their full involvement in society. The specific objectives of the program are to reduce poverty among economically vulnerable groups, increase access to the labor market of convicted and former convicted persons and better inclusion of Roma in society.

Local campaigns to support the integration of migrants have begun in seven cities with the largest number of migrants in Serbia, Subotica, Sremska Mitrovica, Sid, Belgrade, Nis, Vranje and Presevo, Civil society organizations from these cities will, together with local networks for supporting refugee integration, organize activities to reduce the social distance between the local and migrant population and point to the needs and problems of migrants. The meeting of representatives of NGOs and city institutions on the issue of reducing the distance between migrants and the local population was held in NiS today. Nis City Council Member for Social Care Issues Tijana Djordjevic Ilic said that the city, in accordance with its possibilities, helped the inclusion of migrant children in elementary schools and that many children from migrant families attended classes at the school in Bela Palanka. So far, 2200 migrants have passed through the center in Divljana, and 8 babies were born.

In the period from January to March this year, the total number of tourists who visited our city has increased by 12 % compared to the same period last year. The number of domestic tourists increased by 7 %, while the number of foreign guests, according to the Statistical Office of the Republic of Serbia, increased by 16 %. The number of overnight stays for the same period increased 13 % compared to the previous year, and now it amounts to 33 389, with the number of overnight stays of domestic tourists increasing by 17%, and foreign by 9%. When it comes to the countries of origin of foreign guests, in the first quarter of this year, the largest number of tourists in Nis came from neighboring countries Bulgaria and Greece. However the number of foreign guests from China, Macedonia and Sweden was also noticeable. The largest number of tourists visited Nis in March, when the total number of guests increased by 22 % compared to the same period last year.

National Library Stevan Sremac in Nis celebrated 139 years of existence and work. At the ceremonial academy held in the library premises the audience was greeted by Nis City Council Member Jelena Mitrovski on the behalf of the City of Nis. She pointed out the special mission that the library had in building the system of values ​​for younger generations and congratulated the jubilee to all employees in this institution. The special guest of the National Library Stevan Sremac was Matija Beckovic and in the honor of the anniversary, the exhibition of photographs and records from the life of this great Serbian writer was also organized.

The delegations from 16 countries of Southeast Europe are staying in Nis attending the meeting of the International Council of the Folklore Festivals and Folklore Art. The delegates were welcomed at the reception at Nis City Hall by Nis City Council Member Jelena Mitrovska who wished them a successful work and pleasant stay in our city. On this occasion Ms. Mitrovska pointed out that she was very happy that such a gathering, which was being organized for the first time in Serbia, was happening in Nis, and that this was an opportunity to get to know all our guests and to present to them our culture and history. The meeting in Nis was organized by the National Section of CIOFF Serbia in cooperation with the Student Cultural Center Nis, and on that occasion, on Saturday, a large concert of six folklore ensembles of Serbia would be organized at Nis National Theater. More than 50 delegates from Portugal, Spain, Italy, France, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Switzerland, Montenegro, Macedonia, Albania, Bulgaria, Greece, Cyprus, Azerbaijan, Cypriot Cyprus and Serbia gathered in Nis to discuss the folklore festivals organized by this organization throughout Europe. At the same time, they would learn more about Serbian tradition, thereby increasing the visibility of our cultural heritage. This meeting would also contribute to the International Folklore Festival that would be held in Nis in the second half of July, as our city, as a host, would have the opportunity to show all its cultural and tourist capacities.