Long-standing friendly relations and cooperation between the City of Nis and the Norwegian Municipality of Saltdal, which were also formalized in the 1985 by Twinning Protocol, are continuing to mutual satisfaction as the Mayor of the Norwegian Municipality of Saltdal Rune Berg said on the occasion of the visit of the official delegation of Saltdal Municipality to Nis. At the meeting between Nis City Deputy Mayor Milos Bandjur and Mayor Berg the potentials of both cities were presented and the aspects of future cooperation were disused. According to Mayor Berg the cooperation could be directly continued in the field of education, culture and youth. Deputy Mayor Milos Bandjur pointed out that he was pleased that guests of the City of Nis would have the opportunity to attend the Nisville international jazz festival and that their amateur jazz orchestra would perform at this festival. Deputy Mayor pointed out that humanity that Norwegian showed to the Serbian internees in the past.  The delegation of the City of Nis was in Saltdal last June where attending the celebration of 75 years since the first Serb prisoners from concentration camps were taken for forced labor.  “I was amazed to see how the Norwegian people care about the Serbian memorial complex-Serbia cemetery where a total of 1911 Serbs were buried, out of 2081 who were sent there for labor. The Municipality of Saltdal and the Government of the Kingdom of Norway will invest additional funds to reconstruct the memorial complex. Then came an idea and a need to cooperate again, and the Mayor of Saltdal was in Nis, “said Deputy Mayor Bandjur. Beside the Mayor with his associates, an amateur jazz orchestra from this city is staying in Nis performing at Nisville Jazz Festival.

Cooperation between the City of Nis and the French municipality Montsegur started in October 2012 in the framework of decentralized cooperation with the Council of the Department of Gironde, and at the initiative of the French Embassy in Serbia, with the agreement that this cooperation would be dedicated to youth, culture and sustainable local development as it was

Lavern and Nis City Deputy Mayor Milos Bandjur. He emphasized the importance of this cooperation which was primarily reflected in the exchange of experiences in the field of culture. At the same time the Deputy Mayor thanked Mr. Lavern, who, on his arrival to Nis, emphasized the importance of Nisville Jazz Festival, at the same time mentioning that the festival would be opened by mixed young jazz band composed of 17 musicians from our city and 23 musicians from Montsegur. He praised the jazz festival and stressed that it meant a great deal to him that he was in Nis on this special occasion to support the joint jazz band and that he could learn about the organization of the festival because the Montsegur had their own jazz festival they were very proud of.

Nis City Mayor Darko Bulatovc visited today the Nis fortress where the final preparations for the start of the main program of this year’s International Jazz Festival Nisville were in progress. The mayor, together with the Director of Nisville, Ivan Blagojevic, visited the newly opened Jazz Museum in the building of the former Turkish Bath where the history of the Festival and the development of jazz culture in Nis was exhibited. On this occasion the Mayor emphasized the great importance this museum had, as well as Nisvillle in general, in creating a more complete and richer tourist offer in Nis. “The city recognized the significance of Nisville and included it among the public events supported by the city, the Jazz Festival was a cultural treasure and unique brand of Nis, after which this city became recognizable and far beyond the borders of our country. This can be seen at every step. The city is crowded with people from all over the world, and I expect estimated 200,000 people to see some of Nisville programs during these ten days, which will be a huge success for the city, “Bulatovic said. Nisville Director Ivan Blagojevic expressed satisfaction with the support provided by the city to the festival without which Nisville could not have been one of the top ten music festivals in Europe, according to the British Guardian. Blagojević hopes that the ministries of culture, youth, and tourism will also recognize the significance of this event, and provide support that will enable Nisville to progress, both technically and program related, primarily through the arrival of the world’s greatest names in the world jazz scene. Mayor Bulatovic emphasized that the support from the city increased from 20 million in 2016 to 28 million dinars this year, which testified that Nis was aware of the value of this festival and was ready to support it in the coming years and in the future.

Mayor of Nis Darko Bulatovic met today with the Ambassador of the Arab Republic of Egypt, H.E.Mr Amr Aljowaily, the first diplomat from this friendly country who visited our city after more than 15 years. The meeting, agreed a few months ago, coincided with the evening performance of the modern ballet ensemble of the Cairo State Opera at Nisville Theater Festival, so the issue of expanding and enhancing cultural cooperation was imposed as one of the main topics of discussion between Mayor Bulatovic and the Ambassador. The Ambassador said that cooperation should not be limited to Belgrade and Cairo, as the two main and largest cities. On this occasion he also invited Nis folk ensembles to be guests at one of the numerous ethno festivals in Egypt. Also, the initiative for closer connection, and the twinning of Nis with some of the larger cities in Egypt, was initiated, which was accepted mutually. Mayor Bulatovic pointed out that Nis was a city with a rich but insufficiently investigated archaeological heritage and there was the need for establishing cooperation with Egyptian experts who had vast experience in the field. He emphasized that the National Museum in Nis was ready to connect and collaborate with some of the Egyptian museums or archaeological institutions. Ambassador Aljowaily said that he was familiar with the rapid development of Nis Airport Constantine the Great and pointed out that it would be good to launch an airline, regular or charter, between Nis and airports in Hurghada or Sharm el-Sheikh, and that this would be important not only for citizens of this part of Serbia, but also Bulgaria and Macedonia, and would enable a much larger tourist exchange in both directions.

The Tourism Organization of Nis presented the business results for 2017, as well as activities aimed at increasing tourist traffic in 2018. According to statistical data the number of tourists in Nis increased by 26% in 2017 compared to the same period of the previous year, with the number of domestic tourists increased by 16% and foreign tourists by 34.5%. If the average estimated spending per tourist is 70 euros, it is concluded that the total income of the city from tourism is about 14 million euros, or 1.6 billion dinars, which, for a period of four years, represented the increase of almost 70%, as the director of Tourist Organization of Niš Uroš Parlić said, adding that over RSD 26 million was the income from the residence tax. According to him the trend of growth continued this year, so in the first five months the number of tourists increased by 19%, and the number of foreign tourists by as much as 25%  which showed that investments in being present at international fairs, the promotion, marketing and improvement of the tourist infrastructure brought the result. Nis has become the third destination in Serbia, after Belgrade and Novi Sad, popular for city tourism. Nis City Mayor Darko Bulatović said that the positive trend of increase of tourists, which is counted in dozens of percent, indicated that the city, in cooperation with the Nis Tourism Organization, recognized the importance of tourism and tourist economy as the basis for the overall economic growth of the city. The Mayor pointed out that the City would continue to support the activities of Nis Tourism Organization and to invest in the creation of new and improving the existing tourist facilities and events so that these positive trends would continue, and Nis would become recognizable on the tourist map, and the city with increasing revenues from tourism.

Nis City Mayor Darko Bulatovic met with the newly appointed Ambassador of the Republic of Austria in Serbia Mr. Nikolaus Lutterotti. The meeting was the occasion for the Mayor Bulatovic to present to the Ambassador the projects implemented by the City of Nis, economic and scientific capacities, cultural, historical and tourist potentials of our city. During the discussion it was pointed out that Austria was one of the biggest and most important foreign trade partners of Serbia; however business, scientific and cultural cooperation could be intensified. His Excellency Ambassador Lutterotti stressed that Nis was the first city outside of Belgrade that he visited since he took office four months ago. He pointed out that he was familiar with the work and plans of Austrian companies in this area and thanked the Mayor for the successful cooperation and assistance that Austrian businessmen could always count on. The Ambassador also emphasized the importance that Austrian diplomacy gave s to the process of Serbia’s accession to the European Union, and especially now, while chairing the EU Council of Ministers, and stated that the position of the Government of Austria and Chancellor Sebastian Kurz was that Serbia and the entire Western Balkans should be part of EU and that, on way to achieving this goal, Serbia could count on the support and assistance from Austria. The meeting between Mayor Bulatović and Ambassador Lutterotti was also attended by Goran Jovanović, the owner of the Serbian-Austrian company Tagor, recently in the capacity of Honorary Consul of the Republic of Austria in Nis.

Nis City Mayor Darko Bulatovic and Ms. Steliana Nedera, acting Resident Representative of the UNDP Office in Serbia signed a Memorandum of Understanding between the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) and the City of Nis on the implementation of the pilot project Blockchain-based diaspora remittances in the City of Nis. The National bank of Serbia fully endorsed the test (pilot project) to be conducted by UNDP, since the Bank itself has been planning to also test and potentially introduce blockchain technologies for diaspora remittances. Thus the City of Nis has become the first city in Serbia that is included in the blockchain system that UNDP is implementing in several countries which, according to Mayor Bulatović, is the proof that Nis is on the right path to achieving one of the most important goals, which is to become the City of Advanced Technology.

The goal of the project is primarily to connect the Serbian diaspora and their families in the homeland, and UNDP designed it to test how this type of advanced technology can be of use to citizens as well as to government and local governments. The pilot project focuses on the transfer of money through the use of blockchain technology, from individuals abroad to individuals in Serbia, i.e. in Nis, whereby these services will be cheaper, more transparent and tailored to the needs of citizens. The City of Nis was chosen because of its close and strong connections with the diaspora, as well as the openness of the city administration for the application of new technologies. UNDP partnered with the AID:Tech Ltd., a private company from Ireland, well known and recognized for its innovative technological solutions for the humanitarian and development sector, and the U.S. company Stripe, specialized in safe online payments.

UNDP’s pilot involves participation of up to 200 recipients and senders of remittances, who have been selected through a public call to voluntarily take part in this initiative. The recipients will get digital voucher ID cards, and they will be able to use the funds that they receive to pay for utilities and purchase groceries in three transparently chosen local retail stores in Nis. The expected value of all the participant transactions is estimated at $20,000.Tracking what people buy is part of the testing, so that in the future potential senders could automate money transfers to pay for utilities and merchandize directly. All the data gathered for the purpose of testing will be used with the consent of the participants and with the consent of the city of Nis local authorities, while taking into consideration the Law on Personal Data Protection. The pilot anticipates that it would be possible to track the type of items purchased, but not by whom they were purchased. Administrators will be able to view the aggregated data showing where the funds are being directed via blockchain digital assets, e.g. 50% of all the funds sent to Nis will be used to pay for utilities and 50% for the merchandize.

The use of open-source blockchain platform, provided pro-bono by AID: Tech Ltd, is expected to bring several benefits, for a number of beneficiaries: ensure traceability and transparency of the inflows of diaspora remittances into Serbia; channel diaspora remittances towards socially responsible purchases; enable easier and cheaper money transfer for the remittance senders, by avoiding the intermediaries. The goal is for the transaction costs to be less than 3% in average, compared to the existing, much higher costs paid via traditional banking sector and/or financial service companies; secure the privacy of individuals, since personally identifiable information is held off-chain in accordance with the GDPR, while individuals are identified on the blockchain through unique digital identifiers; enable creation of digital IDs that can be used for other money transfers (such as, for example, social welfare) and other purposes.

The City has, in parallel, initiated the process of establishing a blockchain regional center with the following interested parties: Faculty of Electronic Engineering, University of Nis, Faculty of Economics, University of Nis, NiCat cluster of advanced technologies Nis, Young Ambassadors Nis, Cofound.it Serbia, and Center for Innovative Youth Entrepreneurship Nis. Having in mind the potentials of blockchain technology, the above-mentioned organizations agreed on the following goals: advocacy for regulations that will contribute to the development of blockchain technology and eco-system of digital entrepreneurship at the regional and national level; capacity building for the development of blockchain technology (Training and Education, Research and Innovation) and initiation of a project with a high social, economic and environmental impact at the regional level,  providing knowledge and conditions to existing IT companies and potential startup companies for project development using existing Blockchain platform.

The 11^th International Student Folklore Festival, which has gathered more than 500 participants from eight countries, Greece, Georgia, Bulgaria, Bolivia, China, Costa Rica and Mexico and the performances in seven cities in Serbia this year, was officially opened last night in Nis. In short – half of the world in the southeast of Serbia! Their hosts are the Student Cultural Center Nis and the Academic Folklore Ensemble Oro. Nis City Mayor Darko Bulatovic welcomed the participants and organizers of this significant cultural event at Nis City Hall with a wish to feel good in our city. “The City of Nis recognizes the social and cultural significance of this festival, and will do its best to be a good example of how love, peace and tolerance among young people should be spread, and art is the best way to accomplish this,” said Mayor Bulatovic. The Director of the Student Cultural Center, Dragana Petković, said that the Festival has been growing and developing for years, and so, apart from Nis, concerts will be held in the municipalities of Bela Palanka, Vladičin Han, Knjaževac, Ćuprija and Ražanj.

On the occasion of the second anniversary since being elected Nis City Mayor, Darko Bulatovic gave an interview to daily newspaper Politika.

 Bulatovic: Nis Has  Future

In the past two years, significant development results were achieved, the enormous debts and the number of unemployed have been reduced, and the conditions for further development were created, Mayor Bulatovic said.

Since July 11^th, 2016, when, following the spring elections, the current executive city government was formed, very important results were achieved in Nis in terms of development and improvement of the lives of citizens. These are the words of Nis City Mayor Darko Bulatovic who particularly pointed out that Nis had changed its image in a really short time period, which could be seen at every step. Nis is also the driving engine of all the most important economic, cultural and sporting events in the South and Southeast of Serbia, and it is on the best way be the leader again in the development of this part of our country.

In the past two years, due to the support of the prime minister then, and now the president of Serbia, Aleksander Vucic, we have achieved the most in the field of economic development, largely by our own engagement and extraordinary cooperation with the state authorities and ministries in the Serbian government. Recently the City of Nis has been awarded the title Champion of Local Economic Development by Serbian Development Agency and the National Alliance for Economic Development, whose chairman of the board used to be PM Ana Brnabic. This recognition has come to us for the best practice in attracting foreign investors. The business environment in Nis has been completely changed – new factories and production facilities have been opened, the number of unemployed people is now around 26,000, and in 2012 as many as ten thousand more fellow citizens were unemployed. At the end of summer we expect the announced arrival of new investors in Nis. At the same time, we managed to free ourselves from the huge amount of debt owed due to unplanned spending of money from the city budget and, which, it was known, two years ago was over 50 million euros. Rigorous savings, good planning, increased revenues and reduced expenditures and with significant financial support of the state to our budget, we reduced the city’s debt by about 2.5 billion dinars, and kept fulfilling our regular obligations. And, most importantly, the City of Nis did not take any new loans.

Significant results in Nis, Bulatovic emphasizes, have been achieved in all areas of life and work:

Nis actively engaged in the beginning of the realization of the Railway Corridor 10 project, the airport’s operations improved with a record increase in the number of passengers, almost all city public companies and institutions operate without problems. The New Clinical Center has been opened, and the City Health Care Center, the largest primary care institution in Serbia, has been renovated. In cooperation with the University of Nis, much is being done to activate educational potentials and thanks to that Nis is already highly positioned as one of the largest centers for the development of advanced technologies in Serbia. At the same time, numerous problems have been resolved in the utility service system and transport infrastructure, as well as in the area of ​​child and social protection and in the continuity we are solving all the problems of citizens so that we could provide better living conditions and a higher standard for our citizens.

In the end, Nis City Mayor especially stressed that everything was done in order to continue the development of the city without the delay:

I have to point out that because of the overall measures undertaken to overcome the challenges of the long-term crisis and positive results on creating the conditions for further development, the city also received the award from the British Financial Times which recognized Nis as the European City of the Future”. And on the World Bank Doing List Nis ranked top positions according to the time needed for obtaining the construction and other permits and thus City of Nis has been giving full support to the Serbian government’s policy of attracting investment and economic development. This, as well as the constant support we have from the state authorities and the people who lead Serbia, most of all, obliges us not to stop, said Nis City Mayor Darko Bulatovic in the interview for the Daily Newspaper Politika on the occasion of the secondary anniversary of his term of office.

Toma Todorovic, Politika

The City of Nis has joined the ROMACTED Programme Promoting Good Governance and Roma Empowerment at Local Level, which, with the support of the European Union in Serbia, is implemented by the Council of Europe, on the basis of the agreement between the European Union and the Council of Europe. ROMACTED results from the experience of the ROMED and ROMACT programmes and will reflect upon the adaptation of these methodologies and activities to each beneficiary and selected location, in order to fit into the policy cycle and the dynamics and reality of each municipality, and thus bringing an additional input to existing policies and practices for an effective and more inclusive functioning. One of the leading guidelines in the methodology of the programme is that participation in local governance can only be effective if it is context-appropriate. Thus, a preliminary mapping, assessment, baseline survey and research are done in each selected municipality so as to facilitate the adaptation of the programme and its support and monitoring of the process. In addition to the Strasbourg-based team, the programme will have project officers in the Council of Europe offices in Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Serbia, “the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia and Turkey and a national support team from Roma civil society in each of the beneficiary countries. The aims of the programme are to: strengthen political will and support local development through capacity-building of local authorities and effective participation of Roma citizens in local plans and projects; empower the Roma citizens- on the individual level (assisting people to practice their basic rights and to expand their capacity and skills), as well as on the community level (assisting people to get organized to voice their interests around community problem-solving);  improve and expand the institutions’ commitment, capacities, knowledge and skills in working for Roma inclusion, putting into practice the concepts of good governance.

So far, in cooperation with the Roma community and local self-government, the following actions have been successfully carried out: cleaning the railway crossing in the settlement Beograd Mala in cooperation with the Serbian Railways, water supply at the Roma cemetery, as well as the connection of the chapel to the water supply network in cooperation with City Municipality Crveni Krst and PUC Naissus, clearing the wild landfills in cooperation with PUC Medijana. Further plans related to the Roma population will be directed to solving many problems in various areas: water supply, sewerage infrastructure in Roma settlements, traffic signs and safety, systematic solution of wild landfills in settlements, assistance in renovating several residential buildings for the most vulnerable Roma population, cleaning and maintenance of railway crossroads around settlements, education, scholarships, prevention of drug addiction, assistance in securing the equipment for the collectors of raw materials which could be found at the landfill. “Local self-government is ready to answer with its all the available capacities to the problems of our citizens with the obligatory active participation of members of the Roma community”, said Nis City Council Member Tijana Djordjevic Ilic, and announced that in addition to the above Program, a Protocol on Cooperation was signed aimed at improving living conditions of the Roma population in settlements.