August 28^th

Nis City Airport Constantine the Great came out of the crisis and “it can stand on its own feet”. This city company has been financially and commercially recovered and it will not be subsidized by the City from next year. Since the beginning of 2018, it will not have any credit indebtedness, and the next year will present a new stage in the development of the airport, as it was said at the press conference at the Nis City House where the business results for last three years of this public company were presented. “We have come to such results with our joint work, primarily of the state, city and airport. From next year, the city will not subsidize the salaries and fixed costs as it is now, but will primarily provide support for investments, capacity expansion and the creation of conditions that can make this airport regional, “Nis City Mayor Darko Bulatovic said. By 2021, 20 million euros will have been invested into the airport, of which 12 million by the state. It will be invested in expanding an airport building that will be three times bigger than it is now. It is expected that the installation of the ALS system in the amount of about EUR 2 million will be completed this year. From the beginning of the year, 207,000 passengers and two thousand tons of goods were transported in passenger and cargo traffic. The plan for this year is 330 000 passengers, in 2018, 400 000 passengers are expected, while the projected figure for 2021 of 650 000 passengers.

August 25^th

52^nd Nis Film Festival – The Actors’ Guild Award was officially opened at Nis Fortress Summer Stage with more than 50 actors who bowed to the Nis audience who greeted them with a thunderous applause. At the opening of the festival the award for the life achievement “Pavle Vujisic” was presented to the actress Svetlana Bojkovic. Nis City Mayor Darko Bulatovic presented the keys of the city to the president of the jury, Jelica Sretenović, so Niš would be symbolically a city of actors until August 30^th. Before the opening of the Festival Nis City Mayor Darko Bulatovic hosted a reception for the actors and guests of the festival.

The Film Festival in Nis is a unique event which presents the achievements of Serbian actors. The festival started in 1966, on the initiative of Serbian actors guild with film screenings on the Nis Fortress summer stage which can accommodate nearly 4,000 spectators and it is the most attended festival of its kind in Serbia. The task of the festival is to present and promote film and acting achievements throughout the region. It is the only Festival that gathers in the same place all national acting elite, as well as all leading local film producers, directors, critics, journalists and other important people from film industry.

August 23^rd

The Members of the City Council for Culture, Sports and Youth and Education respectively, Jelena Mitrovski, Branislav Kacar and Bojan Krstic presented a set of tickets for the Festival of Actors’ Achievements to the most successful pupils, students and athletes who won one of the first three places in international competitions, as well as to the winners of the competition Serbia in the Rhythm of Europe, and to the members Academy Theater of Nis Student Cultural Center. “This practice was introduced last year, because, in this way, the City of Nis wants to show respect, honor and recognition for young children and young people who have represented their schools, faculties, clubs, parents, themselves. In this way, once again, we draw attention with this modest gift; it is our obligation to take care of those who are the future driving force of the development of this part of Serbia by creating conditions in Nis for them to develop and improve their knowledge and skills, “said Jelena Mitrovski. “These young people with their invested effort and energy, with the successes they have achieved, and the rewards they have won, deserve to be thanked in this way. I have no doubt that they will continue to be hard working and diligent “said Bojan Krstic.

August 22^nd

His Eminence Bishop Arsenije, the Bishop of Nis, met today with the Nis City Mayor Darko Bulatovic at Nis City Hall and discussed the further cooperation of the City and the Nis Diocese of the Serbian Orthodox Church. This is the first official visit of His Grace Bishop Arsenije since he has been elevated to the Throne of Diocesan Bishops of Nis. The previous cooperation between the City and the Serbian Orthodox Church Diocese of Nis was at an exceptional level. Mayor Bulatovic said that the City of Nis, in accordance with its financial capabilities, would help build churches and provide other forms of assistance. He said that the doors of the City Hall were always open. His Grace Bishop of Nis Arsenije emphasized that the priority of the Nis Diocese was to complete the construction of the Temple of St. Basil of Ostrog. He stressed that he was confident that the City and the Serbian Orthodox Church would continue to cooperate successfully. On this occasion, he announced the visit of the Patriarch of Alexandria to Nis in September and stressed that this visit was a good opportunity for the City and the Serbian Orthodox Church to host such a high delegation that would be led by the Patriarch of Alexandria.

August 21^st

On the occasion of the forthcoming mountaineering expedition to Mount Fuji in Japan, which will be held in the period from August 23^rd to September 4^th, the member of which for the first time will be the citizen of Nis Miroslav Dokman the reception was organized at Nis City Hall during which Nis City Deputy Mayor Milos Bandjur presented the ceremonial flag of the City of Nis, which will be hanged on the highest peak of Japan. “The City of Nis is looking forward to the success of every fellow citizen, we see it as our success; we are pleased that Miroslav Dokman was last year the member of the expedition that won the highest peak of Europe and Russia-Elbrus. This year he is going to climb the highest peak of Japan-Mount Fuji and we are proud that today we could present the flag of the City of Nis to him to be put up on Fuji on the morning of the sunrise in the land of the emerging sun, “said the Deputy Mayor Milos Bandjur. Miroslav Dokman has been engaged in hiking for more than a decade.

August 18^th

At the press conference held today at Nis City Hall the local economic development programme measures were presented envisaged by the City of Nis with the objective of creating favorable business environment, new jobs, conditions for establishing the company and strengthening the competitiveness of Nis economy. There are ongoing public calls for each of the above stated programme measures. According to the Assistant Mayor Dragoslav Pavlovic, the expected effects of the local economic development program are increasing the availability of credit lines, increasing the visibility and competitiveness of MSME products, improving the business and developing new products and services, improving the business climate and growth of investments at the local level, increasing the number of self-employed and employed persons etc.

Head of the Office for Local Economic Development Milan Randjelovic pointed out that the local government launched the public call on august 11^th for the allocation of incentive funds in the framework of the realization of the local economic development program, inviting banks interested in short-term lending to business entities from Nis with the participation of the city subsidizing interest on loans for the procurement of working capital, covering costs of purchasing machinery and equipment for modernization of the production process, stabilization of production, investments in new modern means of production and operation, construction, reconstruction and renovation of office space, new employment. The minimum loan for which the interest will be subsidized is 100,000.00 dinars, and the maximum amount of 1,500,000.00 dinars. For this purpose the City of Nis has allocated 5,000,000.00 dinars. According to Randjelović the deadline for submission of bids is August 21^st.

In addition to this, the City of Nis also envisaged the following measures: internationalization, improvement of competitiveness and improvement of cooperation between the companies and educational institutions that are accredited. For realization of the measure of internationalization 3 million dinars are foreseen, and for this measure, public calls for businesses and clusters with business headquarters in Nis were launched on August 15^th. According to Randjelovic, the promotion of competitiveness is a measure of providing assistance to micro, small and medium-sized enterprises through implementation of standards, certification and recertification, market research, testing of new products, The funds, he adds, are allocated to cover 50% of the eligible costs, with a limit of up to 300,000.00 dinars per company. The planned amount for realization of the measure is 6 million dinars, the public call was announced on August 15^th and the funds were provided in the budget. 4 million dinars were secured for the improvement of cooperation between the companies and education-scientific institutions.

According to the Member of Nis City City Council for Economy Mihajlo Zdravkovic the City of Nis has allocated 30 million dinars from the budget this year for incentives for employment of hard-to-employ labor categories and this project is being implemented in cooperation with the National Employment Service Branch in Nis which provided 24 million. The public call for self-employment is open until August 30^th. So far 56 requests have been submitted. Public invitation for subsidy for employment of persons from the hard-to-employ category  is open until November 30^th, i.e. until all the available funds have been spent. According to the program of professional practice 25 persons have been hired and this public call is closed as well as the public call for participation in public works, through which 94 people were hired.

At the invitation of the Regional Center of the Ministry of Defence in Niš, the Chairman of Niš City Assembly, Mr.  Rade Rajkovic, in the barracks “Tvrdjava” attended the ceremonial farewell for the candidates from the territory of the city of Nis and Nisava district, who enrolled in the military schools throughout Serbia (military vocational schools, military gymnasiums and military academies).

At the meeting with the Head of the Regional Center of the Ministry of Defence in Niš, with the Colonel Markovic, the Chairman of Niš City Assembly commended the promotion of voluntary military service, as well as the activities in the open competition for admission to military schools. In addition, approximately out of 1,700 applicants from all over Serbia, nearly 30% were from Nis and the surrounding area, which reflects the significance of the Army and the inviolability of the Army and society in these areas.

The Chairman of Niš City Assembly, Mr. Rajkovic wished success and good luck to all the participants during their training program, emphasizing that their role in society is extremely important, that the city and the state will not forget them, and that their determination reflects the highest level of patriotism and courage. He pointed out that those young people had already made their parents and their country proud, with their sole need to be the part of the Army of Serbia.

Apart from the representatives of the Ministry of Defence in Niš and the Army, the ceremony was also attended by the representatives of the local self-governments, the enrolled candidates and by their parents and friends.

August 5^th

Nis City Mayor Darko Bulatovic and the Member of Nis City Council for Culture Jelena Mitrovski met today with the actors of the Academic Theatre of the Nis Student Cultural Center who won the first place ward at the International Festival of Student Theatre KESTENBURG in Banja Luka. The purpose of the festival is to gather talented students from the whole world, in order to create an environment for experience exchange and cooperation between local and international art students and theatre enthusiasts. It will give a chance to everybody who enjoys theatre to experience different performances and meet foreign students.

August 1^st

Nis City Mayor Darko Bulatovic signed the contract with internally displaced persons who were granted the right to be helped to improve the living conditions while being internally displaced through the grant of assistance in the purchase of rural houses with a garden and additional help for the material for the adaptation of these houses. The value of the project is 11.3 million dinars, and this type of assistance was received by 10 beneficiaries, 180000 dinars for each of them. Also, the contracts for assistance to improve the living conditions of internally displaced persons by granting them building materials packages were signed today. The value of this project is 5.5 million dinars, per beneficiary ranging from 180000 to 550000 dinars. This assistance was received by 15 beneficiaries. The funds were jointly provided by the Commissariat for Refugees and Migration and the City of Nis.

August 1^st

Deputy Prime Minister of Serbia and Minister of Construction, Transport and Infrastructure, prof. Dr Zorana Mihajlovic said today that Nis Airport Constantine the Great was an example of how the cooperation between the state, local self-government, state and local companies has yielded good results, because in three years the number of passengers increased from 1,300 in 2014 to more than 183,000.  “We worked as a team – the Government of Serbia, the City of Nis, Nikola Tesla Airport, Constantine the Great Airport, the Civil Aviation Directorate, SMATSA – with the common goal of developing Nis Airport according to all standards”, Mihajlovic said after the visit to Nis Airport cargo terminal and at the signing of the contract on the donation of equipment worth 400,000 euros by the Belgrade airport. Mihajlovic said that the investments in the furnishing of the Nis airport will surely continue, as the number of passengers and goods constantly increases. “We will soon choose the project designer for the tower to be built next year, which is one of the conditions for Nis Airport to be completely ready to become a Belgrade Reserve Airport,” she said. “The plan for the next four years is to invest 6.3 million into Nis Airport to make it even more developed and more modern than it is now “, added Mihajlovic.

Nis City Mayor Darko Bulatovic thanked Nikola Tesla Airport for donations and Vice-President Mihajlovic for the support to the citizens of Nis and the whole region of South Serbia. “After so many years of stagnation, Nis and the south of Serbia have a reason to hope and see a prospect and a better future. I would like to express my gratitude to the Belgrade airport on the donation and to the Ministry and the Government for support without which we would not survive all the difficult years that are behind us. Today, Nis airport is a real airport and an example of how to fight for a better standard and living conditions “, Mayor Bulatovic said. He added that the city budget for the next year will no longer have costs for peoples’ salaries at the airport, and that the city would invest only in equipment and reaching the highest standards.

Saša Vlaisavljevic, acting general manager of the Aiport Nikola Tesla, said that both Belgrade and Nis airports are part of the air traffic system of Serbia and that with the support of the Government and the Ministry they record best business results. “Both the City of Nis and Nis Airport can count on us, and in autumn I expect to come again, with fire trucks, “said Vlaisavljevic. Vladica Djurdjanovic, the general manager of Nis Airport Constantine the Great, thanked the Belgrade airport for donations and the Government of Serbia for many years of support, adding that without this assistance, the Nis airport would not have had the results it has today, more than 183,000 passengers and nearly two thousand tons of goods transported for the first seven months of 2017. The donation of Nikola Tesla Airport to Constantine the Great Airport for which the contract was signed by the directors of two companies, Sasa Vlaisavljevic and Vladica Djurdanovic, is worth 400,000 euros and includes, among other things, X-ray machines for inspection of goods and mail, X-ray for inspection of luggage, three metal detector doors, as well as detectors for explosives for checking the hand luggage.