June 26^th

Nis City Mayor Darko Bulatovic welcomed the participants of the discussion devoted to the prospects for enlargement of the European Union during the presidency of Bulgaria. On this occasion he said that the entry of Serbia into the EU is a strategic goal of the Republic of Serbia and that the City of Nis, as a local self-government, was doing everything to support the efforts of our government, by incorporating reform measures into its decisions. “Through the adoption of strategically important documents and action plans that are in line with the documents of the European Union, we want to contribute to accelerating of the reform process and show that we are a good partner to the Government of Serbia in its efforts to bring us closer to EU membership,” said Mayor Darko Bulatovic. Ambassador of Bulgaria to Serbia H.E. Radko Vlajkov said that Serbia and Nis were Europe and that Bulgaria strongly supported Serbia’s progress towards EU membership. He stressed that for this reasons the Sofia Declaration wasimportant, not only encouraging accession, but also because it put major joint projects in the field of infrastructure into the forefront, which, not only established cooperation among the countries of the Western Balkans, but also connected people, and that was the essence of the European Union.

In the last ten days, and after the celebration of the city festivities – the Days of St. Emperor Constantine and Empress Helen, but also after numerous manifestations before and after that, city leadership received numerous official responses, letters and congratulations from our country and abroad. On this occasion Nis City Mayor Darko Bulatovis said:” Dear fellow citizens, I am particularly pleased to convey to you, the citizens of Nis, the messages that came from Greece, from the City of Serres, our twin city, but also from Austria, Italy, Russia, Bulgaria and other countries from which hundreds of guests stayed in our Nis at the time of the traditional celebration of the days of the city’s patrons – the Holy Emperor Constantine and Empress Helen.
All those thank-you notes, all the greeting cards received from our guests, were sent to you – to the citizens of Nis – for a warm welcome, great hospitality and, as almost every letter highlights, for the unforgettable days and pleasant moments spent in our city at the traditional city festivities. I especially emphasize that I feel, and that I share with you my dear fellow citizens, extreme pleasure for receiving the official letter from the Mayor of the Russian City of Kursk, Mr. Nikolai Ivanovich Ovcharov, who, besides everything else, emphasized “he believed that by participating in the event by which we marked the traditional city festivities, the City of Kursk contributed to the preservation of the historical and cultural tradition of Nis and further strengthened the deep spiritual and inseparable connection that exists between the Serbian and Russian people. ”
Mr. Ovcharov also pointed out that “Nis was a modern city that was developing dynamically and was surely going forward, while maintaining the recognizable spirit of Orthodox culture”, especially emphasizing that “historians had the right in calling Nis the Imperial City – the place of the birth of Emperor Constantine during the reign of whom more than 1,700 years ago, Christianity has acquired the legal right to exist and further developed ” In the end, the Mayor Kursk wrote, I quote “that after the unforgettable events in Nis, he firmly believes that with the new impulses for his work and the inexhaustible energy he had the opportunity to see with the citizens of Nis, our city will develop even more quickly and become a real European metropolis “.
I express my great and sincere satisfaction and gratitude both on my own and on behalf of all of you, for this friendly and sincere message that came from Kursk, a city in Russia known at every point of the planet Earth for the legendary Kursk Battle during the Second World War in which one of the greatest victories over fascism was won, Mayor Bulatovic concluded.

As part of the city festivity celebration, the days of the city’s patrons Holy Emperor Constantine and Empress Helen, the guest from the twin cities and friend cities of Serres (Greece), Kursk (Russia), Vienna (Austria) and Izmit (Turkey) visited the memorial room of the Serbian Army Land Forces. The delegations accompanied by Nis City Mayor Darko Bulatovic were welcomed by the Commander of the Land Forces Lieutenant Colonel Milosav Simovic, and he introduced them to the idea of ​​establishing such a setting and the process of the creation of the Memorial Room. According to General Simovic, the purpose of the Memorial Room and Museum is to save from the oblivion all soldiers, officers and civilians who were killed during the wars, from 1804 to the present, and to pay tribute to all those who sacrificed their lives for the creation of modern Serbia and the preservation of its freedom. Apart from the setting that includes an overview of the activities of the units of the Land Forces since their creation, the whole process of the creation of the Serbian state and army from the Middle Ages to the present is shown. Uniforms, weapons, flags, coats of arms and features of all units throughout history, reviews of the war events and battles of the Serbian uprising until the last conflicts in the territory of Kosovo and Metohija are exhibited. All commanders and heads of military units throughout history have been recorded, as well as cooperation with other armies, local self-government, state bodies and citizens’ associations. The greatest attention of the guests was drawn, however, by the memorial room with more than 16,000 names and photos of dead soldiers and civilians who died in all wars since the beginning of the 19^th century to the NATO aggression and the arrival of KFOR in the territory of Kosovo and Metohija, among which there are the names of the Greek soldiers who fought with the Serbian army in World War I, as well as the names of British, Russian, French soldiers and civilians killed in this area in the struggle for the liberation of Serbia from the occupiers.

After the recently signed Protocol on Twinning between the City of Nis and the City of Serres and according to the agreement of the signatories, the Protocol was also verified today in Nis, in front of the city councilors and city officials, who voted in the city parliament to formalize the relations between two cities. “For 150 years now, Serbia and Greece have, not only friendly, but also genuine brotherly relations, and our two nations have always been allies, on the same side of history. Whenever necessary, we stood by each other. The closeness of the two nations and the two countries has been confirmed many times over the 150-year long relationship between Serbia and Greece. Greece is still a true friend and partner of Serbia on the European path. One cannot take good relations fro granted, good relations have to be nurtured, they are being built, and today’s signing of the Protocol on Cooperation between the City of Serres and the City of Nis is a confirmation of the desire to consolidate and improve everything that has so far connected us, ” Mayor Bulatovic said. Mayor of Serres Mr. Petros Agelidis said that he was very honored to be in Nis together with his associates at the time of the city festivities and that the Twinning Protocol was verified on this special occasion.

Today is the Day of the Holy Emperor Constantine and Empress Helen – the holy patrons of the City of Nis. The morning liturgy was held at the Church of Holy Emperor Constantine and Empress Helen attended by Nis City Mayor Darko Bulatovic with his associates and other city officials as well as the guest from the twin cities of Nis, the representative of army and police forces.

Nis City Mayor Darko Bulatovic and the Nis City Council Member for Culture Jelena Mitrovska welcomed the delegations from Vienna and Turkish Izmit at the reception held at Nis City Hall on the occasion of opening the Exhibition entitled Great Places of World History. Prof. Piero Bordin, the founder and the director of the Festival and Symposium Art Carnuntum, initiated 10 years ago a unique series of international events “The Emperors of Carnuntum – They Changed the World”. This project was also one of the reasons of the European Commission for awarding Carnuntum with the European heritage label.  Great Places Of World History Exhibition is also the part of this project and Nis/Naissus – birthplace of Constantine the Great –has been the partner in the since the beginning. This year is the European Year of Cultural Heritage. Also this year is the 70^th anniversary of the Declaration of the Human Rights by the United Nations in Paris on December 10^th, 1948. Both events have a connection to the Exhibition Great Places of World History. The Mayor stressed that he expected that co-operation between the partners in the project would continue with new activities related to marking the 70^th anniversary of the adoption of the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Professor Piero Bordin emphasized that he expected all cities which have benn involved in the project so far to work together on the project continuation .He pointed out that the Edict of Milan published in 313 could be considered thew origin of the Article No 18 of the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

The guests of the City of Nis on the occasion of celebrating city festivities – the Day of

the Holy Emperor Constantine and Empress Helena were the representatives of the the twin city city of Kursk from Russia, Mr. Maslov Yevgeny, a councilor of the Kursk Assembly and a member of the Construction Committee and Mr. Yevdokimov Dmitry, also a councilor in the Kursk city council and the chairman of the Committee for Development of Small and Medium Enterprises and the innovation policy of the Kursk regional assembly. The guests thanked for the hospitality and expressed their hope that the cooperation between two cities would intensify in the future.

The representatives of the EU Delegation to Serbia presented the Report by the European Commission on the progress of Serbia. On behalf of the City of Nis the Deputy Mayor Miloš Bandjur welcomed the guest speakers and the gathers audience expressing great satisfaction that the representatives of the European Union delegation were on Nis on the occasion of presenting the Annual Progress Report of the European Commission on Serbia’s progress in the negotiation process to the citizens of Nis and the whole. “I am happy that the European Union Delegation believes that this important document should be brought closer to local self-governments, which are an important factor in the overall progress of the state. Today, Nis and southeast Serbia have the opportunity to get acquainted with the processes of Serbia’s euro integration and to get answers to important issues, in which areas progress has been made, what the recommendations for further acting in the process of implementing the reforms and the accession process were.  The Deputy Mayor added that the presentation of this report is especially important since local governments and local communities were the place where the needs and interests of citizens directly met the process of Euro integration. “Often, the impression is that local governments are least involved in this process and that citizens do not feel that changes are really happening. Quality and availability of information about the European integration process are key factors for local governments to recognize what is necessary to support overall state policies on the road to EU” as Deputy Mayor concluded.

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.

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.