March 7^th

Ambassador of Norway to Serbia Mr. Arne Sannes Bjornstad visited Nis and met with Nis City Mayor Darko Bulatovic, and the directors of the cultural Institutions in Nis on the development and promotion of, first of all, cooperation in the field of culture. Mayor Bulatovic presented to Ambassador Bjornstad the conceptual designs for the construction of a multifunctional cultural center. During the discussion between the Mayor and the Ambassador the willingness of both parties to deepen and expand already successful cooperation in many areas was highlighted and Ambassador Bjornstad stressed the readiness of the Norwegian Embassy, ​​and the Norwegian Government in general, to support all initiatives that are aimed at improving relations, both through support and assistance to theater and music ensembles, festivals, art galleries and museum and other cultural institutions to present  themselves to the Norwegian audience, but also willingness to participate in organizing the arrival and presentation of Norwegian cultural workers in Nis. Mayor Bulatovic once again expressed his gratitude to Norway for the generous support it has been providing for many years to our city through different programmes and projects. He also pointed out the fact that numerous Serbian Diaspora lived in Norway which presented another incentive for improving cooperation in all areas. Mayor Bulatovic added that Nis would initiate establishing direct flights from Nis Airport to some destination in Norway. The two officials also discussed the possibility of establishing closer cooperation between Nis and some city of the same size in Norway. The Ambassador proposed Bergen and suggested that City of Nis should convey its interests to that city in establishing closer cooperation.

March 6^th

A multifunctional cultural center in Nis will be built on 15,000 square meters, and it will be located at the corner of Nemanjic Boulevard and Blagoje Parovic Street. There are five thousand square meters of exhibition space, an amphitheater with about 1,800 seats, a large parking space, hotel, bars and restaurants envisaged for this cultural center. The contest for the design was launched in the second half of 2018, by the City of Nis Office for Local Economic Development and Projects. 10 proposals were submitted. The expert commission chose the work the architects Aleksandar Slaviković and Dejan Miletic from Belgrade. “The whole object is designed in the form of a cube that would follow the external forms and spaces that can be used during the day and outside the working hours of the building,” said Slaviković. According to him the building is conceived in the spirit of modern design but in accordance with the environment where it will be located. “There is a big gallery space, and amphitheater, cafes, as well as hotel space, where the performers will stay,”Slavikovic said. The chief city planner Nikola Lecić pointed out that the location itself is one of the last unconstructed larger blocks in this area. Within this urban block there will be the future Cultural Center which represents a multipurpose building for the needs of culture and other cultural manifestations. “The second phase is the property ownership preparation of the site that should be owned by the city before obtaining a building permit. We expect that these activities will be completed this year and that next year we will have project which will be ready to compete whether for state funds or other funds. The member of the commission, Goran Vojvodic said that the winning project design stood out not only by the quality of the solution, but also by the way in which the theme was elaborated.

Nis City Mayor Darko Bulatovic said that the construction of this multifunctional cultural center was of great importance for the development of Nis. Culture is the first place where the state and its society are viewed, the sense of quality life and a high standard of living are not measured only by the profit, but also by the quality of educational, cultural, and art institutions in the city, with the comprehensiveness of cultural opportunities, “Bulatovic said. He added that many cities in the world built their recognizable image by some famous cultural institution or event. “By building a multi-purpose cultural center, we want to create better conditions for development and encouragement of the cultural and artistic creativity, provide better conditions for accessibility to cultural content, and encourage innovation and creativity,” Bulatovic said. “Thanks to investments Nis is developing economically, all necessary conditions are created for sustainable development and investments in sports, art, culture and all those contents that make the lives of our citizens more complete and more beautiful. In this regard, I am pleased that the City of Nis has started to implement the project of building a multifunctional cultural center and I am really pleased that we as the Office for Local Economic Development and Projects could give our contribution. I am sure that we have succeeded in our intention and that the City of Nis chose a valuable conceptual solution for a multipurpose facility whose construction is expected with great attention, not only because of the prosperity that it will bring in the field of culture, but also because it will give a completely different, urban look to the city area where it will be built”, said Milan Randjelovic, the Head of Nis City Office for Local Economic Development and Projects.

February 24^th

The traditional promotion of Nis as a city of rich heritage with numerous cultural and historical sites was held at the International Tourism Fair in Belgrade. Nis was promoted as the city that offered its guests the best cuisine, entertainment and opportunities for adventure, sport and spending time in nature. For these reasons, according to the director of Nis Tourism Organizations Mr. Uros Parlic Nis is becoming more and more popular among tourists, and from year to year the number of foreign and domestic guests is increasing. This increase in the number of tourists was almost by 20% compared to 2017. In order to continue this trend Nis has already been introduced in Moscow, Bratislava, Vienna, Ljubljana, Sofia and several other European capitals at the tourism fairs. Nis City Mayor Darko Bulatovic visited the promotional stands of the city at the fair. On this occasion he emphasized that tourism was extremely important, not only because of the high income it brought, but also because of the image and the reputation of the city and above all because of the new jobs generated by tourism.

February 21^st

The City of Nis and Nis National Theater will be the hosts and organizers of the First Festival of Drama and Theater of the Balkan Cultural Space “Theater at the Crossroads” from 12 to 19 March, at which 8 performances by theatre groups from the region would compete. The idea of the festival is to affirm the similarities and differences of the countries and peoples in the region of the Balkan. The festival will be opened on March 11^th on the day of the Nis National Theater with the premiere performance of the Traveling Theater Sopalovic. “Theater at the Crossroads”, will gather performances from the region from Maribor, from Cetinje, Varazdin to Pleven. The program council is chaired by the director Nebojsa Bradic and the jury of the festival is led by actress Mia Begovic, bringing together eminent theater producers from the Balkans.  The newly established festival will offer to the audience, through eight competitive performances, and debates and promotions, the similarities and differences of the cultural identity of the countries from this region. The new festival offers the opportunity to offer different platforms for dialogue with theater producers in the name of the Balkan theater and the possibilities of cooperation – from the exchange of programs and artists to co-productions.

 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.

In the former Nazi Concentration Camp Crveni Krst memorial service was held and the flower wreaths were laid paying respects to patriots who lost their lives in the camp or were executed at Bubanj between 1941 and 1944. This day is also the day of remembrance the first organized breakthrough and the escape of detainees from a concentration camp in the territory of Europe in the winter of 1942. Vladimir Jovanovic from the village of Kravlja, one of the rare survivors and a man who was barely seventeen years old when he was detained behind the barbed wire of the camp, ant relocated to infamous Mauthausen spoke about those years on this occasion. Aleksandar Gaun, the deputy president of the Union of Jewish Municipalities of Serbia, spoke about the suffering of the Jews, who, in addition to captured members of the Partisan and Ravnogorski movement, were the most numerous among the inmates, who pointed out that no camp should ever be forgotten or set aside from the historical scene as the eternal warning of the evil that took over Europe, and which, if these memories were not nurtured and remembered, can quickly be revived. Nis City Mayor Darko Bulatović, reiterated that every February 12^th, every year, we gathered together in the place where the most brutal pages of our history had been written, because only so united could we preserve our tradition, our past and our roots. “The winner is the one who is able to love and forgive. Therefore, on behalf of all the victims, we are sending a clear message from the Crveni Krst today that the executionsites must be remembered, but not repeated! They should be kept as a historical warning that the war will destroy a man if a man does not destroy the war! “, said Mayor Bulatovic. Traditionally, on the occasion of marking the anniversary of the camp breakthrough, the march of the scouts along the trails along which the prisoners were escaping was organized.

Nis City Mayor Darko Bulatovic met with the Ambassador of Romania to Belgrade, Oana- Kristina Popa at Nis City House. On this occasion Ambassador Popa told the host that during the presidency of Romania over the European Council it would support Serbia on its European path, and the enlargement would be at the very top of the European agenda. Popa, whose country presides over the Council of the European Union in the first half of this year, said that the European perspective of the Western Balkans in 2018 was reaffirmed, adding that Romania would help candidate countries to advance in European integration.  “Serbia is one of the leading candidates for the EU and plays a key role in the stability of the Western Balkans,” Popa said, who presented the goals of Romania during the presidency of the European Union in a lecture at the EU info corner in Nis. She reiterated that Serbia could count on Romania’s assistance in the accession process and in the reform process, and that Nis, as one of the most important cities in Serbia, can find partners in many cities in Romania, to work more closely on solving issues that are common to cities of this size and degree of development. Mayor Bulatovic presented the potentials of Nis, economic, cultural, scientific and historical, and pointed out that Nis was interested in establishing close ties with the cities in Romania, first of all with those who had experience in the development of modern, advanced technologies, having in mind that there were already several “IT Hubs” in Romania similar to those that Nis wanted to create in the future Scientific and Technology Park and StartUp center at the Faculty of Electronic Engineering. Bulatovic reiterated that Romania and Serbia have been building good neighborly relations for centuries and that city and municipalities with the help of the embassies, have deepened this relationship.

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.

COOPERATION BETWEEN GIRONDE AND NIS IN EDUCATING YOUNG FIREFIGHTERS January 17^th

The reception was held at Nis City Hall for the guests from Gironde (France) within the framework of the cooperation project between the Gironde fire department and Nis Administrative and Business Secondary School that educates future firemen. The delegation was led by Maryse Dusselier, the Head   of the Department for International Relations, joined by Captain Vincent Latorre, the officer from the department for firefighting training, and Jacques Loche, the director of the college Champs-d ’Eymet à Pellegrue. The guests from France were received by Mr. Sasa Zivic, the Nis City Council Member and Mr. Milos Milosevic, the Assistant Mayor. The meeting was also attended by Honorary Consul of France in Serbia, Mr. Sasa Miljkovic, and the representatives of the Nis Administrative and Business Secondary School. The total value of this project is about 17 thousand euros, and the school from Nis is in charge of its technical implementation with the support of the Nis City Municipality Medijana. In the first year this project will focus on the exchange of French and Serbian professional associates in the training of students for the profile of volunteer firefighters. The delegation from Gironde will donate to Nis Administrative and Business Secondary School the necessary funds for implementation of practical classes for the educational profile of fire protection technician.