December 1^st

The European Delegation in Serbia presented a valuable gift to the University Library “Nikola Tesla” of 50 books of professional literature dealing with legal and scientific developments related to the functioning of the European Union. The donation was handed over to the Director of the Library, Zoran Zivkovic, by Michael Devenport, the Head of the European delegation in Serbia. This library, based on its literary and scientific material, is an important place for science and education in Nis and throughout southeastern Serbia. Nis City Deputy Mayor Prof.dr Milos Bandjur, also attended the ceremony, and on this occasion he emphasized the importance of this kind of literature, which would easily find its way to professors and students interested in studying the policy of the European Union, but also to all those of our fellow citizens who wanted to be informed about the European Union. It is very important that the academic community in Nis continues to cooperate with the Delegation of the European Union in Serbia in order to realize the foreign policy priority of our country, which implies future membership in the European Union.

November 22^nd

The representatives of the European Delegation in Serbia presented today to Nis City Mayor and the representatives of institutions, the civil sector and the media in Nis, the European Commission’s Report for the period from October 2015 to September 2016 on the progress of Serbia in the process of joining the European Union. The report was recently delivered by the Head of the Delegation, Michael Devenport, to Serbian Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic. This report highlights that Serbia has taken a major step in European integration, and that in 24 chapters, our country has made some progress in comparison to last year. The reduction of the budget deficit, the reform of the state administration and the creation of conditions for an efficient market economy were particularly commended. Nis City Mayor Darko Bulatovic welcomed the representatives of the EU delegation and said that Serbia was on the European path and wanted to become a part of European society. We will continue to work and try to keep our economy progressing, the mayor said, adding that the efforts undertaken by the Prime Minister and the Government of Serbia are seen at the local level as well. Also, local self-government does everything to follow the Serbian Government and incorporate reform measures into its decisions and apply them within its activities. He pointed out that the local self- government worked completely transparently, so that citizens and media representatives could have an insight into the activities of the City at any time, and that this would be the case in the following period.

November 21^st

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban and members of his cabinet on November 20^th arrived in Nis, where they were received by Serbian Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic and cabinet members ahead a joint session of governments on November 21^st. Orban and the Hungarian ministers were welcomed at the Constantine the Great Airport with the highest honors with the playing of anthems and the presence of an honor guard. Multiple bilateral ministerial meetings are also slated for November 21^st in Nis, and the two prime ministers will be attending a Serbian-Hungarian business forum as well.
The interior ministers of Serbia and Hungary, Nebojsa Stefanovic and Sandor Pinter, talked over the migrant crisis in Nis late on November 20^thagreeing that there was good cooperation between police in curbing human-trafficking. Serbian Minister of Construction, Transport and Infrastructure Zorana Mihajlovic announced that the joint session of governments would focus on projects significant to the entire region and that a deal would be signed to declare the Tisa an international navigable river. Vucic said at a joint press conference with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, after the meeting of the two governments, that Serbia and Hungary had sincere friendly political relations, and added that the aim was to further improve economic relations. Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic said that the purpose of the joint session of the governments of Serbia and Hungary in Nis was improvement of relations between businessmen of the two countries, increasing trade and attracting investors. Vucic said that he and Orban talked about attracting investors from this country, not only in Vojvodina, but also in other parts of Serbia, adding that the opening of a branch of OTP Bank in Nis is therefore extremely important.

November 21^st

Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic and Prime Minister of Hungary Viktor Orban visited today the new 9.4km Prosek- Bancarevo road section on the eastern branch of Corridor 10.Vucic presented Orban the works on the whole Corridor 10, and particularly the eastern branch leading from Nis to the Bulgarian border. Orban congratulated the Serbian Prime Minister on everything that has been done and what he saw and especially commended the quality and speed of works. Also, the Prime Minister of Hungary was interested in the details of the implementation of the construction of Corridor 10 through Serbia. Vucic said that the completion of Corridor 10 through Serbia will significantly shorten the travel from Budapest through Belgrade towards Bulgaria, Macedonia or Greece. Also, we will have much safer roads, and vehicle traffc will be significantly increased, said Vucic. According to Vucic, the eastern branch of Corridor 10 is one of the most difficult sections because of mountainous landscapes. Vucic presented Orban the current works on Corridor 11, important for linking Serbia with Montenegro, as well as the planned construction of the motorway Nis-Pristina, adding that Nis is becoming a regional center and a major crossroads.

November 21^st

Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic said today at the Serbian-Hungarian business forum in Nis that good political relations between the two countries open the possibility for full cooperation in all fields of economy and announced direct connecting of entrepreneurs and companies. Speaking at the business forum held after the joint session of the two governments, Vucic told the Hungarian investors that the Serbian government will provide the best possible conditions for business. He told investors from Hungary that Serbia offers well-trained labour force, as well as very good incentives for any business they might want to start. According to the Prime Minister, our country also offers subsidies per job, the joint construction of infrastructural facilities, production facilities, access roads and more. Serbia can offer better conditions than any other country in the region, the Prime Minister underlined and added that it is also necessary to encourage Serbian investors try to invest in Hungary. Vucic pointed out that today a contract with a major Japanese company was signed which will employ 1,700 people in Sabac, while German factory Kromberg &Schubert, which specializes in production of car parts, has opened its production plant in Krusevac. The Serbia-Hungary Business Forum, which has gathered 250 businessmen and 170 companies, has been organized by the Serbian Chamber of Commerce and the Hungarian National Trading House.  According to data of the Serbian Statistical Office, the total foreign trade between Serbia and Hungary stood at €1.1 billion last year, which is approximately €50 million more in comparison to 2014, i.e. by 4.9% more.  In the first eight months of 2016, the trade between the two countries increased by 5% in relation to the same period last year, which was encouraged by the opening of Hungarian trade representative offices. Total export of goods to Hungary in 2015 stood at € 320.9 million and it accounted for 2.7% of the total export of Serbia.

November 21^st

Hungary’s OTP Bank has opened a new regional headquarters in Nis. The inauguration ceremony was held in the presence of Hungarian PM Viktor Orbán and Serbian PM Aleksandar Vučić, who both expressed their hope that the Nis investment would be profitable for both parties. According to preliminary reports, the total cost of the new regional headquarters was half a million euros. In his speech, President and CEO of OTP Sándor Csányi emphasized that OTP Bank appeared on the Serbian market ten years ago when it purchased Niska Banka and is planning on acquiring other bank branches with which it can rise to become one of the largest banks in Serbia .OTP is present in nine countries, has over 1300 branches and provides services to 12 million clients. Mr. Csányi highlighted the fact that good Hungarian-Serbian economic relations facilitate the economic development of both countries and continued good cooperation is expected in view of the fact that the signs of Serbian economic development and growth are already visible. Prime Minister Orbán said with relation to this that amongst others the members of the Hungarian Government had arrived in Southern Serbia to convince Hungarian enterprises that it was also worth searching for investment opportunities south of Belgrade. “The opening of the new OTP headquarters in Nis is proof that Serbia welcomes Hungarian investors, and Hungary supports these kinds of investments”, the Prime Minister added. “The opening of the branch is a symbolic moment that is testament to our economic policy of encouraging close cooperation”, Mr. Orbán continued. Serbian Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic expressed his hope that the Nis investment would be profitable for both parties.

November 9^th

The delegation of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Kingdom of Sweden, which financed, with a million euros, the development of the Feasibility Study for the construction of a wastewater treatment plant visted Nis. According to Johannes Oljelund, Director-General for International Development Cooperation, the Swedish delegation is extremely pleased with the work that has been done so far. The construction of a wastewater treatment plant is the largest project in Serbia in the field of environmental protection and will cost € 56 million. The money will be provided from pre-accession funds of the European Union. The completion of plant will increase the capacity of Serbia to purify waste water by 50%. More than 20,000 tons of sludge from Nisava will be removed every year, and it is planned to revitalize and build more than 35 kilometers of sewerage network. At today’s meeting, the signing of the Memorandum of Cooperation between the City of Nis and the Ministry of Agriculture and Environmental Protection was announced and the Ministry will donate to the City a million Euros for the complete project-technical documentation for the tender.

November 4^th, 2016
The Chairman of the Assembly of the City of Niš, Mr. Rade Rajkovic met today with the President of the Association of European Cities of Culture (AVEC), with the Deputy Mayor of the French City of Arles – Mr. Christian Mourisard.

This meeting, according to the Chairman Rajković, represents the succession of a long-term cooperation between the City of Nis and the City of Arles, as well as a good opportunity to exchange experiences in the field of preservation and presentation of cultural and historical heritage. This issue in the City of Nis will be approached with great care, taking into account the potential of the overall economic development. This is primarily related to a better tourism offer towards a growing number of foreign visitors, who will have a chance to see and learn a lot about the history and culture of this region in the City of Nis.

In addition, the current city authorities will particularly insist on having the best professionals from cultural institutions work on such tourist offers, whose continuity of work will not depend on periodic changes in the local self-government, stated Mr. Rajković.

Furthermore, the A.V.E.C network (Alliance de Villes Européennes de Culture) was established in 1997 as a European network of historical cities and districts with the common goal of establishing a European region based on a respect for the culture including both tangible and intangible cultural heritage, which stands for the identity of cities and regions.

November 4^th

Nis City Mayor Darko Bulatovic met today at the Nis City House with His Excellency Ambassador of the Republic of Poland to Serbia Tomas Njegodjis. At the reception, two officials discussed the cooperation in the field of economy, culture and education. The mayor and ambassador agreed that it was necessary to renew the ties between the Serbian and Polish people who had excellent cooperation in the past, and agreed that the economic forum would be organized in the coming period, with interested investors from Poland participating. The idea is to show them the potentials of southeastern Serbia in order to take concrete steps towards establishing economic cooperation. The Polish ambassador also announced intensification of cooperation on the cultural plan, but also in the field of education with the goal of connecting the University of Nis with universities in Poland.

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.