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 18^th

Two students from each primary school from Nis that meet the criteria of the Promens Center, after the workshops that will be organized in schools, will be given the opportunity to attend the eight-month Suan Pan Program to strengthen the potential of children in the developmental period. According to Milica Vukotić Jildirim, the director of Promens Center, this center will donate two tuition fees for each school. According to her, the data show that, after 8 months of this school, the attention and memory of children increase for 86%. Nis City Mayor Darko Bulatovic, who presented the vouchers for this program to the directors of the primary school, thanked Promens Center for this donation, but also the respective city administration for education which recognized the importance of this program for the development of children and contributed to the realization of this donation.

November 18^th

The cooperation agreement was signed between the City of Nis and the humanitarian-ecological organization “From Bottle Cap to Smile”, so that boxes for the collection of the plastic bottle caps could be placed at the premises of Nis City administration. This initiative is supported by numerous institutions and companies. It is especially important that this action has a threefold role that is to recycle waste, to think about the environment and to develop humanity and solidarity with children and in people. In Nis, there are dozens of locations where you can leave bottle caps, including schools, but also socially responsible companies and public institutions. “We will be honored and pleased that this action is being implemented in the premises of the city administration, where boxes for collecting bottle caps will be placed on the basis of the signed contract. I sincerely believe the employees and all those who come to our premises will show a high level of social responsibility and that we all will actively participate in the implementation of this campaign, which aims to help children with disabilities in performing activities related to their education. Once again, I thank the organizers of this action for their readiness to include Nis in this story, and I hope that we will achieve successful cooperation,” said Nis City Mayor Darko Bulatovic on the occasion of the contract signing.

November 16^th

Nis City Mayor Darko Bulatovic met with His Excellency Ambassador of Austria to the Republic of Serbia, Johannes Eigner, with whom he talked about the improvement of economic cooperation as well as cooperation in the field of education and culture. “Nis already has excellent connections with Austria but I believe that new Austrian investments will arrive in our city in the future”, said Mayor Bulatovic on this occasion. At today’s meeting it was announced that the Republic of Austria would open its first honorary consulate in Serbia in 2017 in Nis. The name of the Honorary Consul will be known next year.

November 16^th

Minister without Portfolio in the Government of the Republic of Serbia in charge of regional development and coordination of the work of public companies Mr. Milan Krkobabić met today with Nis City Mayor Darko Bulatović. The two officials discussed the development of Spa of Niska Banja, a tourist destination near Nis, which has been recording stagnation in its development in recent years. Minister Krkobabic pointed out that the prime minister tasked him to find a way together with the representatives of the local self-government to improve the situation in certain spas in Serbia and increase the tourist offer as well as the utilization of capacities. Mayor Bulatovic said that Spa of Niska Banja had excellent potential, because it had excellent balneological characteristics and was located close to the large city and airport that was connected with almost all of Europe. By adequate privatization and revitalization of the tourist offer, as well as hotels and accommodation capacities, this spa could in the meantime regain its former reputation. Previously, the Minister met with the president of this Niska Banja City Municipality, Mr. Dejan Jovanovic, to discuss the overall development of one of the oldest spas in Serbia.

November 16^th

In the presence of the Minister of Labor, Employment and Social Affairs Mr. Aleksandar Vulin, Nis City Mayor Darko Bulatovic opened the Job Fair within the Advanced Technologies Forum. At this Fair 30 companies, mainly from the IT sector, will present their personnel potentials and introduce the opportunities for employment. This Fair is organized within the second Forum of Advanced Technologies, whose main goal is to present Nis as the center of advanced technologies, and to contribute to the revival of the economy, attracting investments, preventing the outflow of labor and increasing employment through the promotion of production, scientific and educational and institutional resources. “By the joint efforts of all participants and with the support of the relevant system institutions, we want to make a step towards a common goa, i.e., the positioning of Nis as an important regional center of electronics, mechanical engineering and information and communication technologies,” said Mayor Bulatovic at the opening of the Fair. The specialized employment fair provides the opportunity to directly link job seekers with representatives of companies operating in the field of advanced technologies. The need for personnel in the field of information and advanced technologies is constantly increasing. Educational institutions are trying to offer as much as possible modern programs and ways of education in order to produce human resources according to the requirements of the labor market. At the Fair of Professional Orientation future high school students and future students of faculties and colleges will be able to get first-hand information on education in the field of advanced technologies.

November 15^th

“The Government of the Republic of Serbia is preparing the Strategy for the Development of Information Technologies in order to increase the personnel capacities in that sector”, Deputy Prime Minister Rasim Ljajic said at the opening of the Second Information Technology Forum in Nis. He said that there 1500 IT experts graduated annually, and that the Government’s goal was to reach 5000. Ljajic said that at this moment 15 000 IT experts could be recruited and reminded that the IT sector was the most profitable part of every economy. “About 19000 people working in Serbia in the sector export a software solution worth 450 million euros annually, and the goal is to increase exports in this sector to 1.5 billion euros in the next five years,” said the Deputy Prime Minister. He emphasized that until now little has been invested in science, research and innovation, and that it is necessary to connect scientific-research institutions and economy. “In EU countries, the average investment in science amounts to just over two percent of gross domestic product, and we are under one percent,” Ljajic said, adding that investment in science should amount to at least one percent. He said that Nis has potentials to become a regional center of new technologies and can contribute to the digital transformation of the country. Nis City Mayor Darko Bulatovic pointed out that the Advanced Technology Forum should show what the advanced technology sector in our city was doing. He added that in Nis there are 170 companies and over 3 000 people working in this sector. “Nis has educational, institutional and economic potential to become the city of electronics again,” said Mayor Darko Bulatovic. The Forum of Advanced Technologies gathered about fifty participants, companies, schools and faculties. Within the Forum, the National Employment Service will organize the Fair of Professional Orientation.

November 10^th

The Olympic Committee of Serbia and Zaječarska Brewery decided to donate Sports Shooting Club Nis 1881, which is one of the most successful Nis sports clubs. On behalf of the club, the donation was received by a well-known representative in shooting and a winner of numerous medals at World, European and Balkan competitions, Lidija Mihajlović. She thanked the donor and the Olympic Committee of Serbia for assessing that this money would be used best by the Nis shooting club and added that it would be used for the purchase of electronic targets. Thus the quality of training will be improved. Nis City Mayor Darko Bulatovic said that it was very important that there were socially responsible companies that, with their donations, help not only sports clubs, but also the City of Nis. He added that the Shooting Club Nis 1881, for more than 100 years of existence, successfully represented Nis at the most prestigious European and world competitions. “Our celebrated representative in shooting gun rifle and the winner of many European, world and Balkan medals, Olympic Games participant, Lidija Mihajlovic is the ambassador of sports not only of our city, but also of Serbia. In one word, her results, but also the results achieved by other competitors of this club, have attracted and attract a great number of young people to train this sport”, said the Mayor, adding that the local self-government, in turn, will try to help secure quality training conditions as this is a prerequisite for achieving good results.

November 9^th

A public debate on the draft amendment to the highest act of the City of Nis –its Bylaw was held in the big hall of the Assembly of the City of Nis. The main reason for the amendment of the Statute of the City of Nis is harmonization with the current legislation, since the Statute was adopted in 2008 and in the meantime a number of laws were adopted at the republic level, which had to be adapted to the Statute. Nis City Mayor Darko Bulatovic believes that the proposed amendments to the Statute will improve the functioning of the local self-government. There will be one administration which will replace 11 that existed so far to whose work was often complained. The Mayor believes that in this way the city’s governance will be more efficient and that these improvements in the work will be felt by the citizens. The proposed amendments to the Statute also provide for the granting of greater competencies to city municipalities. Amendments to the Statute are expected to be adopted at the next session of the City Parliament.

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.