“With a great pleasure, and I sincerely believe that I share this satisfaction with all fellow citizens, I want to proudly emphasize that, in these days when the world is celebrating the end of the First World War, our city, has a special place in history of the 20^th century beginning. Certainly, the significant events in Nis between 1914 and 1918, related to the beginning of the Great War, but also its ending, must never be forgotten. First of all, I want to say that less than a month after June 28 and Sarajevo assassination, already on July 25 1914, the state leadership ordered the evacuation of the inhabitants of Belgrade and transferred the government to Nis, which became the war capital of Serbia. And only a few days later, a telegram arrived in Nis by which the Austro-Hungarian declared the war against Serbia. During the first year of the war bur also during 1915, Serbian National Assembly held its sessions in Officers’ Mess Building in Nis where on December 7, 1914, Nis Declaration was adopted, which explained the objectives of the liberation war and announced unification of the South Slavs – Serbs, Croats and Slovenes in one state. Therefore, Niš is also called “the birthplace of Yugoslavia”. By October 1915, in Officers’ Mess Building in Nis, besides the Nis Declaration, many important decisions were made. Here, on May 6, 1915, the Yugoslav Congress was held, during which Nis Declaration was adopted which emphasized the struggle of the Balkan peoples for the liberation and unification, and  the position against the London Treaty was proclaimed, which gave a part of the Adriatic coast to Italy. It should also be said that after years of suffering and immediately after the break-up of the Thessaloniki Front, Nis was the first city that the Serbian Army, headed by the Duke Peter Bojovic, liberated exactly one month before the cease of fire and ending of World War I.

I would also like to point out that the symbol marking the Armistice Day is the flower Natalija’s Ramonda and the famous Albanian Retreat medal. Dr. Sava Petrovic, personal doctor of the King Milan Obrenovic, discovered this flower in 1884 near Nis. It is specific because of the fact that when it is completely dried, it can revive after watering. It is on the list of rare, threatened and endemic plants of Europe, and it is strictly protected species in Serbia. The flower was named after the wife of King Milan, Natalija. This “flower phoenix” was chosen in the memory of Serbia which has risen from the ashes of the Great War to continue its path despite the great suffering and catastrophic losses in the Great War. All this is just one part why the Serbian history and the history of Nis are directly connected, and must never be forgotten, and why we can and should always be proud of the people of Nis.”

Mayor

Darko Bulatovic

Education and Job Fair was organized today at Officers’ Mess Building in Nis as the part of Nis Forum of Advanced Technologies.  State Secretary at the RS Ministry of Labor, Employment of Veteran and Social Affairs Svetozar Aleksov addressed the guest at the opening ceremony. Also the guest were greeted by Nis City Mayor Darko Bulatovic saying that the Job Fair which was organized in the city into which the state seriously invested with the intention to facilitate its becoming both regional and national technological center of the 21st century, represented a unique opportunity for all those seeking jobs in the field of information and communication technologies, electronics, mechanical engineering and advanced technologies in general.  This is the right place to consider, on one hand, the educational potentials in Nis, as well as the demand for labor in industry sector, on the other hand. Nis Forum of Advanced Technologies and the Job Fair as its integral part were organized with the goal of presenting to the public the economic, scientific and educational potentials of Nis and the entire region,” said Mayor Bulatovic. After the opening ceremony the delegations of the Ministry, the Government of the Republic of Serbia, the National Employment Service and the City of Nis and numerous officials, visited the stands of the companies and educational institutions participating in the fair. The growth of companies operating in the field of advanced technologies is evident, and human resources are one of the most important factors for this growth. This is precisely why the specialized employment fair and professional orientation fair are an integral part of the Advanced Technology Forum. This is also an excellent opportunity to see the educational potentials the city provides on one hand and to see what the economy needs on the other. In line with the concept of the main event, the job fair will be focused on the fields of information and communication technologies, electronics, mechanical engineering, biomedicine and advanced technologies in general. This is a unique opportunity for anyone looking for job in these areas to present themselves to employers, inquire about employment conditions and prospects for work, submit their applications and work biographies. Secondary schools, colleges and faculties, educational institutions that play a significant role in ensuring adequate human resources structure will be presented at the Education Fair. The harmonization of the educational system with the needs of the economy and technological development enables young people to be educated in their own town with very promising prospects in the future.

Traditional Conference of Nis Association of Economists was held as part of the Nis Forum of Advanced Technologies. This year’s gathering brought together leading domestic experts in economic sciences, business representatives, chambers, local self-governments on the topic of the place of advanced technologies in the function of economic development. President of the Serbian Association of Economists Aleksandar Vlahovic pointed out that the role and importance of modern technologies in today’s world economy was immeasurable, and that we must be guided by this example. “Although we are experiencing Belarus differently, the fact is that nearly 30% of its GDP is realized through IT sector, the same situation is in Ireland and in many developed countries in Western Europe. This should also be our goal, through the creation of legal, business and every other environment, the development of the companies based on advanced technologies, and we are trying to make their participation to be at least 20 % of our GDP,” Vlahovic said. Nis City Mayor Darko Bulatovic reiterated that Nis was trying to be the center of advanced technologies, not only in the country, but also in the whole region. “Education, economy and advanced technologies represent a partnership for the future of Nis! They are the strength and the strongest capacity of this city! The unity of these three segments will be crowned by the construction of the Science and Technology Park – the largest investment in knowledge, science and young people of this city and the entire region! The ground breaking ceremony for this modern giant of knowledge and scientific research will be on November 21^st in the presence of the President and the Prime Minister of the Republic of Serbia. How important this is for Nis, but also the entire state is clearly shown by the fact that the opening ceremony will be attended by the highest state leadership, “Bulatovic said. “We are proud that our fellow citizen Nikola Bozinovic is among world leaders in the IT industry, but we want to create the conditions for other young people never to leave our city or our country and to stay and create here, and that is the role of the state and the city, to create an atmosphere and ambience, which will enable such individuals, such companies, and also to develop our society, state and the city, “as Mayor Bulatovic said. The president of Nis Association of Economists Boban Stojanovic said that the goal of today’s gathering was precisely to point to the identified problems and shortcomings, and to suggest solutions, so that advanced technologies would indeed become one of the main drivers of the economy of Nis and Serbia in the future.

The awards were presented to the winners of the award Emperor Constantine and Empress Jelena for the most successful companies in seven categories. The first winners of the newly established public recognition awarded by the City of Nis for the business results achieved in 2017 are the companies Philip Morris, Leoni, Johnson Electric, Monikom and Vizus in the categories of the best companies, employers and exporters. The prize for the best beginner in the business was awarded to the startup company Future Reward System, while the Corporate Social Responsibility Prize was awarded to the Naissus Club of Businessmen. At the same time, the University of Nis was awarded for contributing to local economic development. At the ceremony organized at the University of Nis, the Mayor of Nis City Darko Bulatovic presented the award and on that occasion he pointed out that it was the intention of the City of Nis to express its gratitude to the best companies, entrepreneurs and institutions that have made an priceless contribution to the positioning of the City of Nis on the map of Serbia as a strong regional center, but also as an ideal destination for new investments. “We named the award after Emperor Constantine and Empress Helen, the patrons of Nis and introduced it with the intention of it becoming a prestigious award for the most successful companies that contribute to local economic development and improvement of the business climate index of our city” as Mayor Bulatovic said and added that the way of working and cooperation with investors, the experience of existing investors and the way of promoting and valorizing the potential of the city, such as – the University of Nis, the industrial tradition, the existence of infrastructure in the city, the connection of the city with European and Balkan roads, as well as professional and qualified human resources – were a clear message that Nis is the city of the future! The decision to award this kind of recognition was made by the Commission comprised of the highest representatives of the City, the Office for Local Economic Development, the Regional Chambers of Commerce, the City Economic Council and Nis Association of Economists with full respect for the proposals made by relevant organizations and institutions such as are Help, Eneka, National Employment Service, Advanced Technology Cluster, Deli Space and Start-up Center.

The first meeting of representatives of twenty municipalities and cities from the South-East Serbia region, from the South Morava Basin with the official of the RS Ministry of State Administration and Local Self-Government, the Public Investment Management Office and the UNDP Office in Belgrade, was held at Nis City Hall. The goal of the meeting, as pointed out, was to familiarize with the initiative for association and better cooperation of local self-governments from this area in situations of natural disasters and emergency situations, with special emphasis on preventive action in order to minimize such situations. According to the State Secretary at the Ministry of State Administration Ivan Bosnjak, in practice, it turned out that it was necessary to re-establish a system similar to the civil protection system that functioned well in the former SFRY and that many Western countries have established their defense systems against emergencies based on that model. Bosnjak stressed that it was necessary to create a system in which municipalities and cities would use and join all their capacities and jointly, coordinated, work primarily on prevention, whether it was cleaning and arranging watercourses, forest roads for extinguishing fires and similar activities, because floods, fires, earthquakes, and all other elements did not know the administrative boundaries, and therefore, so in order to prevent them the local administrations should work together. Deputy Director of the Public Investment Management Office, former Office for Reconstruction, Sandra Nedeljkovic pointed out that the damage from natural and other disasters was at least ten times more expensive than the money that should be invested in preventing these phenomena. All the disadvantages of our country in emergency situations were best seen in the floods of 2014 and therefore the Office and the line ministry insisted on uniting and working together in the prevention of such events, which, she said, would certainly be more and more frequent due to climate change. Up to now, under the auspices of the Standing Conference of Cities and Municipalities, several associations have been formed, territorially determined by the river basins, so that municipalities and cities from the West Morava, Drina, Danube and Kolubara basins have already joined together, and similar initiatives have been initiated in the Velika Morava Basin, Timok and Vojvodina.

Nis City Mayor Darko Bulatovic emphasized that the City of Nis supported this initiative and that it was ready to make available all its capacities to the neighboring municipalities because, as he said, not a single municipality could protect itself alone from natural disasters and the cooperation in this field was of immense importance. A similar assessment was also made by the Mayor of Gadzin Han, Sasa Djordjevic, who led the SCTM Committee for Emergency Situations. He said that the cooperation of small municipalities that did not have great technical and material capacities and human resources with larger municipalities and cities was simply necessary, and stressed that he expected that this process would be joined by all thirty municipalities and cities from this area. The Assemblies in all municipalities and towns in the South Morava basin should discuss the suggested Protocol on Association in the coming months, and the official signing was announced in mid-February. The host city of that meeting, as agreed, would be the City of Leskovac.

Within the Active Employment Policy measures implemented by the City of Nis and the National Employment Service, Subsidy Contracts were awarded to another group of companies and entrepreneurs in Nis in order to promote employment and self-employment of the unemployed, especially those who, due to age or other reasons were having difficulties in finding employment. At the ceremony in the City Hall, the subsidies were given to the beneficiaries of the program by the Nis City Mayor Darko Bulatovic, the Director of the National Employment Service, Zoran Martinovic, and the Director of National Employment Service Branch Office in Nis Boban Matic. Programs and measures of the active employment policies were implemented on the basis of an agreement signed between the City of Nis and the National Employment Service with a total value of 72,727,000 RSD. Of that amount, the city’s participation is 40 million RSD, while the rest is secured from the funds of the National Employment Service, and the result is the employment of 410 unemployed people. Mayor Bulatovic pointed out that only three years ago the amount that the City of Nis had allocated for this purpose was 5 million dinars, and today 40 million through several different Programs. “At the same time as the number of unemployed is decreasing, the number of employees in Nis is growing; the fight against unemployment is one of the main goals of the city and state management,” Bulatovic said. Otherwise, within the Active Employment Policy Program envisaged by the Local Action Plan for the Employment in Nis for 2018, 118 beneficiaries received subsidies for the self-employment program, 168 for job creation, 30 for acquiring practical knowledge, and 94 for the public works program.

A traveling exhibition dedicated to the liberation of Serbia in the autumn of 1918 and the memory of the solidarity of Serbian and French soldiers and civilians in the First World War was opened at Oficirski Dom in Nis. It has been a century since the breakthrough of the Thessaloniki front enabled allied troops of the Eastern Army to progress towards the Danube and the Adriatic, as well as the liberation of Serbia, which suffered a great deal in the war. Feelings that are invoked by the stories about the liberation of Serbia by the Eastern Army, with the French and Serbian troops in the first trenches, remain at the heart of the common memory, which is preserved by many Serbian cities. The opening of the exhibition was attended by His Excellency the Ambassador of France to Serbia Frederik Mondolini and Nis City Mayor Darko Bulatovic. And after a hundred years, there are many Serbian families who cherish the memory of those who fought for freedom. There are numerous stories that testify to the special solidarity of French and Serbian civilians and soldiers during that war period. This exhibition brings us back to these historic days and brings the testimonies of the citizens of Serbia who responded to the invitation of the French Institute in Serbia and agreed to share stories and memories kept in their families through generations. The testimonies were collected from March to June 1918 and will be presented on the social networks of the French Institute. Many of them are included in this exhibition. The exhibition was realized by the French Institute in Serbia in cooperation with the city administrations, archives and museums of the cities of Belgrade, Kladovo, Knjaževac, Leskovac, Negotin, Niš, Pirot, Prokuplje, Vranje, Zaječar and professional associates Stanislav Sretenović, a historian, and Aleksandra Mirić, an architect-conservator.

The City of Nis and the Municipality of Niska Banja will be the host of the 5th session of the Joint Consultative Committee of the EU-Serbia Region Committee. Apart from the representatives of almost all cities and municipalities from our country, the session will be attended by a large number of guests from abroad, members of the Committee from all countries in the region. The study tour of the project Health Paths and Meetings in Niska Banja which is financed through Interreg IPA CBC Bulgaria Serbia funds was organized last night. Together with the Nis City Mayor Darko Bulatović and the President of the City Municipality Niska Banja, Dejan Jovanović, the European parliamentarians walked along the paths of health in the park above the fountain. The reconstruction of the health paths is financed by a cross-border project jointly implemented by City Municipality Niska Banja and Bulgarian municipality Zemen. The objectives of the project are increasing of the tourist attractiveness of the cross-border region of the municipalities Zemen and Niska Banja. The project aims at capitalization of the natural and historical recourses in the region and improvement of touristic products. Through investments in infrastructure the project will contribute to the creation of more attractive tourist conditions and will attract further investments. The project will also popularize the region as a tourist destination. Planned project activities include reconstruction and modernization of the community center in Gabrov Dol and supporting construction activities. In Niska Banja infrastructure activities cover rehabilitation of health walking paths, the amphitheater and scene in the city center and the park. The project includes organization of tours in each country for tour-operators to popularize the project results and the tourist opportunities. Another activity envisages the digitalization of main tourist sites in both municipalities and their integration on a common website which will further contribute to popularization of the region.

Serbian Prime Minister Ms. Ana Brnabic visited Philip Morris International on the occasion of marking 15 years since this global tobacco industry leader has privatized the Tobacco Industry Nis. The acquisition of this largest domestic tobacco factory continues to be one of the most successful privatizations and the largest direct foreign investments in Serbia so far.

Aleksandar Jakovljevic, Philip Morris General Director for Southeast Europe, said that since the arrival in Serbia, the company has invested more than $ 850 million in modernization and development of production to date and planned to continue investing in order to keep it stable and to meet the constant demand growth.  “The fact that we have increased exports 40 times compared to ten years ago and that as many as four out of five of all cigarettes today produced in Nis are intended for placement in 50 markets around the world, the best proof is the quality of this investment, our factory and 900 employees”, said Jakovljevic. Philip Morris is the second largest taxpayer in the country and accounts for more than five percent of the total tax revenues of the state budget. Based on excise duties, VAT and other taxes from coming to Serbia to date, the company has paid $ 6.5 billion to the budget, said the director Jakovljevic.

Nis City Mayor Darko Bulatovic together RS Prime Minister Ana Brnabic , during the visit to the factory, learned more about new production system which completely automates the management of the finished products.  Prime Minister Ana Brnabic said that the Serbian government was continuing to improve the business environment so that “companies like Philip Morris continue to operate in Serbia, achieve excellent business results and hire our employees and engage domestic companies as subcontractors.” At the end of the visit, Brnabic appealed to the company’s management to “direct some of its research into alternative tobacco products to our country. Innovation and research and development are important for the modernization of our economy and the acceleration of economic growth. ”

By laying flower wreaths at the Monument to Liberators at the Square of King Milan in the city center and at the memorial complex Bubanj, the anniversary of the liberation of Nis in the Second World War was marked. City of Nis delegation, led by Nis City Mayor Darko Bulatovic paid their respects together with the delegations of the Serbian Armed Forces, the Ministry of the Interior, the Nisava District and the Association for the Conservation of the Traditions of the Liberation Wars of Serbia. Nis was freed on October 14, 1944, when the 22^nd Division of the People’s Liberation Movement entered the city and attacked the German troops from the south.