GIZ AND THE CITY OF NIS SIGNED MEMORANDUM OF UNDERSTANDING

February 14^th

One of the first local self-governments in Serbia that has expressed a strong commitment to improving energy efficiency in the public buildings sector is the City of Nis. The first step towards this goal is the review and analysis of the current state of school buildings, and then the assessment of potential energy savings, the proposal of adequate measures for their energy rehabilitation, and the definition of the next steps and operators. According to estimates there are about 6500 schools and kindergartens in Serbia, most of them built in the seventies and eighties. Most buildings have inadequate thermal insulation, outdated heating and cooling systems and significant structural damage caused by inadequate maintenance. On the other hand, studies conducted within the framework of the Serbian-German Development Cooperation Project, such as the National School and Kindergarten Typology, indicate that investments in the energy efficiency measures in schools have a great potential for energy savings and a reduction in CO2 emissions. In this regard, Nis City Mayor Darko Bulatovic, and the leader of the GIZ sector for energy efficiency and renewable energy sources, Stephan Heieck, signed the Memorandum of Understanding, which officially marked the beginning of cooperation in the field of energy efficiency in public buildings, with a special emphasis on schools. In this way, the City of Nis will be among the first local self-governments in Serbia (along with Kraljevo, Pancevo, Priboj, Bajina Basta, Uzice, etc.), which will use the Calculator which is based on the “cost-benefit” approach for analyzing the potential of applying EE measures to school facilities, creating priority lists of school facilities for energy rehabilitation. The priority lists created in this way are a good and solid support for planning various rehabilitation programs, but also for applying for funds with available donor and national funds for improving energy efficiency. The Memorandum foresees close cooperation between the GIZ and the City of Nis in the area of ​​energy and energy efficiency, and it is planned that the activities covered by the Memorandum will be implemented by the end of 2019.

Nis City Mayor Darko Bulatovic met with the Ambassador of South Korea Hyoung-chan CHOE at Nis City Hall. This is the first official visit of the Ambassador to Nis since the beginning of his term of the office in November 2018. On this occasion Mayor Bulatovic presented the economic potentials of this city. Two large companies from South Korea, Yura Corporation and Shinwon, already operate in Nis, so it has been jointly estimated that it is necessary to further improve the cooperation between the city and the management of these companies. Both companies showed great corporate responsibility towards the community providing support to many local projects, cultural events and donating medical equipment to local health care facilities.

CHINESE DELEGATION IN NIS                                                                  

January 20^th

Nis City Mayor Darko Bulatovic with his associates met with the Chinese state-economic delegation at Nis City Hall. The Chinese delegation visited Nis, as part of a visit to Serbia organized by the Wanli Think Thank Association from Beijing. The delegation was led by Mr. Zhao Yue, the Secretary General. The visit of the delegation to Serbia is the result of the cooperation with the Center for Intercultural Communication and Mediation Konflaks whose president is the former Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Serbia Mr. Ivan Mrkic. The possibilities for cooperation were analyzed at the meeting and the investment opportunities were presented as well as the possible participation of the delegation of Chinese businessmen at this year’s Nis Advanced Technology Forum.

The meeting dedicated to the progress of the project of collection and treatment of waste waters in Nis between the City of Nis Project Unit with the representatives of the Swedish International Development and Cooperation Agency (Sida), the representatives of the EU delegation in Serbia in charge for the projects in environmental sector, the representatives of the RS Ministry of Environmental Protection took place at Nis City Hall. Nis City Mayor Darko Bulatovic pointed out that this project was of great importance for the city and citizens of Nis and that, for the purpose of the construction of the wastewater treatment plant, about 500 land parcels out of a total of more than 600 parcels had been expropriated. Nis project includes 6 important infrastructure components, estimated at over 50 million euros, with over 35 kilometers of city sewerage network. The development of the necessary infrastructure in the area of water management in Nis was made possible by Sweden, the largest bilateral donor of Serbia in the field of environmental protection, and the representatives of the Sida assessed that the process of preparing technical documentation was going according to the planned dynamics. According to official data, about 8% of municipal wastewater is being treated. By 2041, we should fully comply with the European standards for this area and build 320 plants for the treatment of waste water in Serbia. The project of collecting and processing wastewater in Nis will be one of the first in this area.

Nis City Mayor Darko Bulatovic met with the recently appointed Ambassador of India to Serbia His Excellency Subrata Bhattacharjee at the Niš City Hall. In a cordial conversation, they expressed hope that relations between Serbia and India would be further strengthened, with emphasis on the traditionally good ties existing between the two countries. Mayor Bulatovic said after the meeting that their discussion mainly focused on economic topics and that he briefed the Ambassador about investment opportunities in this part of Serbia. Ambassador Bhattacharjee said that it was actually the President of Serbia Aleksandar Vucic who introduced a new era in relations between the two countries, recalling President Vucic’s visit to India in 2017 in the capacity of prime minister, which was the first visit of a Serbian high official after thirty years. Regarding potential investments in Nis by Indian companies, Ambassador said that in accordance with his authorizations, he will convey the message from today’s meeting to Indian business people, adding that IT sector is of most interest to Indian companies which could eventually expand their business operations to this part of Serbia.

December 3^rd

Nis City Mayor Darko Bulatovic and Deputy Mayor Milos Bandjur met today with H.E. Ambassador of Denmark Mr. Anders Christian Hougård at Nis City Hall. Denmark and the Republic of Serbia enjoy a positive range of relations including political and development cooperation. It is the Embassy’s overall task to represent Denmark and the Danish interests in Serbia, as well as to seek cooperation in the many areas where Danish and Serbian interests are mutual or complementary. Denmark supports Serbia in its efforts on the path towards the EU. The related reform processes are also increasing the business opportunities in Serbia for Danish companies. The representatives of the Danish IT Company Better Collective took part in the meeting.  “There are already several Danish companies in the city, and I have taken the opportunity to to present to the Ambassador Hougård the potentials of our city in the IT sector and to invite other companies from this country to invest here,” as Mayor Bulatovic said on this occasion. Better collective was founded in 2004 and has its headquarters in Copenhagen. Today, the company has a global presence, expanding beyond Danish borders. They currently have offices in Paris, Vienna and Nis. Better collective is a leading developer of educational platforms within the gaming industry. Through products they try to make sports betting and gambling entertaining, transparent and honest for a global online betting network. In the past two years, about 70 programmers have been employed in this company in Nis, and there is an intention to double the number of employees in the next year.

Nis City Mayor Darko Bulatovic met with the US Ambassador to Serbia, Mr. Kyle Scott. At the meeting, the good cooperation between the local self-government and the United States Embassy was noted, especially in the field of civil sector development and the expansion of economic, cultural and scientific cooperation. The Mayor informed the Ambassador Scott about the current activities in the city, primarily about the stabilization of the budget, which increased the capacities and potentials for development and attraction of new investments. Speaking about cooperation with the US, Mayor Bulatovic highlighted the example of Philip Morris, who recently marked 15 years of business operations in Nis, and remained the largest and most significant foreign investment in Nis, and expressed his hope that other American companies would choose Nis for locating their business operations especially considering that the future Scientific and Technological Park would have capacities favorable for some of the American IT giants. Ambassador Scott said that the US Embassy in Belgrade was sincerely committed to maintaining the best connections between the American and Serbian people, which has been confirmed so far by donations, such as today, for the Children’s Oncology Clinic, but also through support to numerous civil sector projects, media and, of course, the development of economy, science, culture and art. Ambassador Scott emphasized the readiness to support every intention of American investors to come to Nis, which he said was of great importance for the development of this part of the country, and the improvement of relations between the United States and Serbia.

In the presence Nis City Mayor Darko Bulatovic, the members of Nis City Council and the management of the Airport Constantine the Great the first flight from Vienna arrived in Nis. Thus the new line Vienna – Nis – Vienna was officially established. The flights are scheduled for Tuesdays and Saturdays, and in certain months on Thursdays. The one-way tickets are on sale from 2399 RSD. The price includes all taxes except for the service for issuing a plane ticket. Wizz Air says this is “a great opportunity for Serbian travelers to discover one of the European cultural centers at a favorable price of tickets for 19.99 euros”. Mayor Darko Bulatovic said that the launching of this line, as well as the enormous interest of passengers for it, was a sure proof that Nis airport had a future. “Since the beginning of this year, about 310,000 passengers have flown from the Nis airport, which is about 8 % more than last year, and we are sure that the plan of having 360 ​​000 passengers this year will be achieved. I am sure that next year, this number will be surpassed, “Bulatovic said. In response to the increased demand and desire for a number of favorable travel opportunities, Wizz Air continues to expand its network of lines from Serbia, offering this year a total of 20 routes to 8 countries available with two Serbian airports, which will further contribute to the increase in incoming and outgoing tourism trends and improve business relationships between countries.