May 4^th

State Secretary at the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs Vladimir Ilic opened Fair of Social Care Services in Nis. The aim of the fair is to point out how many people and organizations are involved in the process which is very important for each local community, and that is the proper functioning of the system of social care that cannot be viewed only as providing basic services to persons who are without basic living conditions.

The opening ceremony was attended by the Nis City Mayor Darko Bulatovic. Rade Rajkovic, the President of Nis City Assembly addressed the audience on this occasion. City of Nis, within its jurisdictions, is trying to devote great attention to the social care system, and allocate significant funds from the budget for social care, and this is one of the indicators that for this city  the solidarity and the support to those who are in need is a very important element in functioning of the local community.

The fair will present social welfare institutions that accommodate a large number of users as well as the NGOs which are providing social services to different user groups (children, youth, victims of violence, victims of trafficking, the elderly, etc.).

April 26^th, 2016

The Chairman of the Assembly of the City of Niš, Mr. Rade Rajkovic attended today’s celebration of the fifth anniversary of the foundation and work of the Serbian-Russian Humanitarian Center (SRHC) in the City of Nis, and on this occasion the international forum, with guests from the Russian Federation, Armenia, Macedonia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Hungary, was organized.

The Serbian-Russian Humanitarian Center is an intergovernmental humanitarian non-profit organization situated in the City of Nis, established on the basis of the Cooperation Agreement between the Government of the Republic of Serbia and the Government of the Russian Federation on April 25^th, 2012 in order to provide humanitarian emergency response in Serbia and other Balkan states. The following tasks are lying upon this unique Center: – participation in activities for the prevention and elimination of emergency situations, including firefighting; – humanitarian assistance to people affected by emergencies; – implementation of joint projects and programs in the Republic of Serbia and other Balkan states, including projects and programs for humanitarian demining; – training and skills development activities in the field of prevention and elimination of emergency situations; – testing and demonstration of firefighting and rescue technologies.

So far, the Center has participated in providing assistance and in the elimination of emergency situations on the territories of the Republic of Serbia, Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Slovenia.

Today’s meeting was attended by the Russian and Serbian government officials, by the Deputy Minister of Emergency Situations of the Russian Federation – Mr. Oleg Bazhenov, by the Serbian Minister- Mr. Aleksandar Vulin, and by the Head of the Sector for Emergency Situations – Mr. Predrag Maric.

April 25^th

The paving of potholes in Ivana Mulutinovica Street started. After a few days break due to holidays and weather conditions the repair works started on several frequency locations in the city.
Nis City Council Member Milos Milosevic visited the site and on this occasion he announced that, as part of a regular maintenance program in the coming period, the works will be at full speed in the streets where there were problems with damages and holes on the roadway.

The traffic in Ivana Milutinovica Street is not suspended during repair works and there are not any major traffic jams.  This is a very important road that connects several large villages with the city, but so far the drivers had a lot of problems at the entrance to the street because of large potholes.

The repair works started in the following streets as well: Romanijska, Marina Drzica and Gabrovacka.

April 25^th

Secondary Legal – Business School from Nis recently hosted the Russian students and teachers from St. Petersburg. During their stay in Nis the guests from Russia will participate in several activities, but also tour the historical sites and natural attractions of the region. The reception was organized at Nis City Hall for guests from Russia hosted by Nis City Deputy Mayor Milos Bandjur. During the talks, the students of the ancient Russian city pointed out that they enjoyed their stay in Nis and that they were welcomed by true hospitality. The cooperation between Secondary Legal – Business School from Nis and the school from St. Petersburg has been going on for several years, and during these exchange tours, the students have the opportunity to exchange experience and get acquainted with the culture and tradition of the two friendly nations.

Yesterday, the Chairman of the Assembly of the City of Niš, Mr. Rade Rajković., member of the City Council in charge of health care, Dr. Sasa Zivic and the Chairman of the City Municipality of Mediana, Mr. Milan Krstic visited the Military hospital in Nis and had a work meeting with the Deputy Director of the Military Hospital, Colonel Jovica Stanojković and with his associates.

They discussed the future cooperation between the local self-government and the Military Hospital, as well as a joint preparation of marking the 140th anniversary of the liberation of the City of Nis from the Turks, and 140th birth anniversary of the Military Hospital, too.

The Military Hospital, as one of the symbols of the City of Nis, is constantly improving its activities, and today it represents a significant organizational unit of the Military Health Department within the Ministry of Defense, successfully providing health care services at the primary, secondary and tertiary level. In the Military hospital in Nis, on an annual basis, there are approximately 5,000 hospitalizations, more than 300 000 medical examinations, 25 000 diagnostic and therapeutic procedures and nearly 1,500 surgeries. In addition, the Military Hospital participates in the United Nations peacekeeping missions.

It has been pointed out that although they are faced with staffing and financial problems, with the difficulties in technical and infrastructure maintenance and with the renewal of medical equipment, they put additional efforts to improve the quality of health services, both for the military insured patients and for the citizens of Nis and Nis district.

The Chairman of the Assembly of the City of Niš has stressed the fact that the local self-government and the Military hospital are the partners on the same mission, and that the city is ready to improve cooperation in order to make health services provided by the Military hospital in Nis more accessible and closer to our fellow citizens. Both sides have expressed a hope that by the end of the year a unified information system would be established, which would help the updating and redistribution of the patients on the waiting list.

The State Secretaries of the Ministry of Labor, Employment, Social and Veterans Affairs – Mr. Nenad Ivanisevic and Mr. Vladimir Ilic announced funding of several projects at the meeting held in the Assembly of the City of Niš with the Chairman of the Assembly, Mr. Rajkovic yesterday; for their implementation the City of Nis would receive nearly 200,000 euro through the German Development Bank Program. These projects, mediated by the aforementioned Ministry, are primarily concerned with the social welfare and problems of the Roma.

In addition, the President of the City Assembly, together with the State Secretaries, announced the Social welfare services Fair, which would be held for the first time in the City of Nis, on May 4^th, 2017. The aim of this Fair, which is organized by the Ministry of Labor, Employment, Social and Veterans Affairs, will be to raise the awareness of the importance of social welfare services and to promote the institutions of civil activism and volunteerism. This will be a unique networking opportunity for the representatives of both public and private institutions within the social welfare system, with the idea to better inform citizens on their rights and the types of services in the field of social welfare.

April 24^th

City of Nis has won the award for contribution to the development of all forms of accessibility in the competition conducted by the Office of the Ombudsman. The award was received on the behalf of the City of Nis. Mrs. Tijana Djordjevic Ilic, Nis City Council Member.

According to Mrs. Tijana Djordjevic Ilic the City of Nis won first place for strategic thinking and proactive approach in the development of accessibility in the competition of 22 cities and municipalities. “The city participated in the contest with the publication” Guide to the Rights and Subsidies for People with Disabilities in Nis “, and with media presentations of city administration activities on comprehensive improvement of the situation for persons with disabilities,” as Mrs. Tijana Djordjevic Ilic said. She added that this award was important recognition for local self-government and incentive to work in this area in cooperation with associations of persons with disabilities, to make Nis more accessible in every sense. Đorđević Ilić stressed that the Commission made up of the representatives of the Office of the Ombudsman, the Social Inclusion and Poverty Reduction Unit of the Government of Serbia and the Standing Conference of Towns and Municipalities, recognized that Nis was a positive example of accessibility at the local level and truly applied rules and implement strategic documents that have been adopted to improve the situation of people with disabilities in our city.

April 24^th

With the blessing of His Grace Bishop Teodosije of Raska and Prizren the first Easter festival of church folk ensembles was held in Nis. On this occasion the reception was organized at Nis City Hall for the participants of the festival hosted by the Nis City Mayor Darko Bulatovic. The participants of the festival performed a short programme. The idea is for Easter folk festival to become traditional event that will gather church ensembles every spring according to the festival organizer Miljko Petrovic.
During the two days of the festival in St. Sava Home Nis audience had the chance to see the performance of the following folklore groups: Serbian Charity and Educational Group “St. Basil the Great” from Bratunac (Republika Srpska); Serbian Cultural Art Group “Holy Despot Stefan Lazarevic” from Srebrenica (Bosnia and Herzegovina); Church Cultural and Artistic Group ” Saint Nicholas – Varjas” from Timisoara (Romania); Cultural and Artistic Group “Dance of Djurdjevdan” from Podgorica (Montenegro) and the Host Church Dance Ensemble “Branko” from Nis.

April 19^th

On the occasion of the premiere concert of NiS Symphony Orchestra, which will be held on Thursday, April 20^th, the reception for the artists were organized at the VIP lounge of Nis City Hall.

Nis City Council Member Mrs. Jelena Mitrovski met with the orchestra conductor from Netherlands Josef Suilen, who will be conducting Nis Symphony Orchestra at following night performance. Maestro Suilen has already appeared before Nis audience at NIMUS.
At the premiere concert, Ehlimana Tikvesa, the professor at the Faculty in Sarajevo will be at the piano, Marko Radonic Montenegrin Philharmonic concert master will be playing the violin and Marija Djurdjevic Ilic, the member of the Montenegrin Philharmonic will be playing the flute. The program will consist of the works by composers Martinu and List for the flute, the violin and the piano as well as Beethoven’s symphony.

This is an excellent opportunity for all young lovers of classical music to come to listen to Nis Symphony Orchestra and enjoy the music of eminent artists.

April 15^th

Nis City Mayor Darko Bulatovic extended his greetings on the occasion of the Christian Holiday – Easter to all the clergy and all citizens of Nis that are celebrating this holiday according to the Julian and Gregorian calendar.

“I wish for you to celebrate this holiday in peace, full of joy and love and harmony among the people, hope and faith in a better and safer future. May this holiday bring joy and spiritual guidance to all of us to preserve the real value that will help us to build a more just society, based on the ideas of democracy, freedom, human rights and development. “