April 11^th

Nis City Mayor Darko Bulatovic met with His Excellency, the Ambassador of Turkey in Serbia Mr. Tanju Bilgiç on the occasion of his first official visit to our city. At the meeting held at Nis City Hall the two officials discussed the modalities of future cooperation between the City of Nis and the Turkish Embassy in Serbia in the fields of economy, and culture.

The Ambassador said that the large number of Turkish investors was interested in investing in Serbia and that Nis was particularly interesting because of its geographical position, but also because of the qualified skilled workforce.

The mayor expressed his hopes that, in the future, the passenger flight on the route Nis-Istanbul would be established and that it was a common task that City and Embassy of Turkey should be implementing.

Later on the Ambassador and the Mayor were joined by students from Nis primary and secondary schools who were going to participate at the children’s music festival “Serbia in the Rhythm of Europe”. The pupils from Nis will compete by performing songs and dances from Turkey. The festival will be held in late June in Sombor, and if they win, their reward will be free travel to Turkey. The team from Nis consists of 10 dancers and 2 singers.

The Ambassador and the Mayor greeted the children, and the Ambassador said that one of the reasons why he came to Nis that day was to meet the children who would compete in the Festival representing Turkey. The Embassy of Turkey has been supporting this Festival for past 8 years. The aim of the Festival is to recognize and promote young talents in accordance with the European Charter on the Participation of Young People in municipal and regional level.

April 11^th

Nis City Mayor Darko Bulatovic opened the exhibition entitled The Caravan of Kovacica Naïve Painting at Nis Officers’ Mess Building. The exhibition includes more than 50 works of painters of naive art and for the first time, in one place, it gathered all the members of the Gallery of Naive Art of Kovacica, which is, on the world cultural map, known as the center of naïve painting. The opening of the exhibition was attended by the Nis City Council Member Mrs. Jelena Mitrovski as well as the President of Kovacica Municipality Mr. Milan Garasevic, who was the creator of the whole idea of the caravan of naïve paintings. The characteristics of Naive Art from Kovacica are strong colors. Each of the painters from Kovacica brings something special to this style of painting; each of them has its own distinctive style. The motives of these artists are taken from living and working in rural areas.

April 7^th

As the part of the NIS corporate programme “Together for the Community”, which, for the past seven years, has been implemented with the support of the City of Nis, Higher Technical School of Professional Studies and the Youth Club Palilula implemented the project of manufacturing the pressing machine for recycling cans and plastic bottles, unique not only in Serbia but also in Europe and it could rightly be said to be an innovation in the field of recycling and environmental protection in the 21st century.

“The City of Nis recognized the importance of the proposed solutions to resolve the problem of waste collection, which was why we chose this project as one of those who were supported through the competition “Together for the Community” in 2016. Given the conditions that need to be fulfilled to join the EU we considered it necessary to raise awareness of the importance of collecting waste in a proper manner and the importance of recycling, and the proposed solution provides progress in this segment. On the other hand, this project is significant in the context of the support to young people, considering the fact that the students could apply what they learned at the Faculty and that will be very important for finding the job in the future”, as Nis City Council Member Branislav Kacar said.

In 2009, NIS started “Together for the Community” Programme and it has been upgrade each year. This program includes cooperation with municipalities and cities in which the company NIS a. d. operates with the goal to improve the quality of life in those communities in the spirit of corporate social responsibility and the need to connect local communities and significant commercial entities. This Programme has been implemented in Nis for past 7 years and 70 million dinars were invested in more than 50 projects implemented by local organizations and associations.

In 2016, based on the results of the competition, 7 projects were supported and each of these projects, each in its own way, contributed to the quality of life in the local community.

April 5^th, 2017

The Memorial Tournament Play for 16 has been organized by public broadcaster Radio Television of Serbia (RTS) for the past 18 years and it is dedicated to the memory of 16 employees of RTS who were killed in the NATO bombing on April 23^rd, 1999.

The tournament has been organized in other Serbian cities besides Belgrade since 2013. This year 16 teams competed at the tournament held in Nis. Like last year the team “Market Ama” won. They will participate in the Tornament Super Finals that will be held in Belgrade this weekend.

On this occasion, the member of Nis City Council Branislav Kacar organized a reception for the team that would represent Nis in Belgrade in the tournament where the competition did not matter as much as the message that the tournament was conveying, i.e., the memory of the tragically killed young people whom should never be forgotten.

This is the first year that the City of Nis is actively helping the tournament organization in many ways. First of all, the city administration gives its sports facilities for free so that tournament can be held, helps to transport team to Belgrade Finals, and the City of Nis Administration team is participating in the tournament as well.
The City of Nis has recognized that it is important to remember the innocent victims but that it is the opportunity to promote sports, healthy living and mini-football as one of the most recognizable brands of Nis through socializing and competition.

At the reception held at Nis City Hall, the member of Nis City Council Branislav Kacar presented to the team captain the coin with the image of Emperor Constantine the Great as well as balls for mini-football and the City of Nis will provide sports uniforms for the tram and it will organizethe trip to Belgrade.

The whole Serbia, through the mini-football tournament, pays tribute to the tragically killed RTS employees but also to all victims of NATO aggression against our country, with a clear message – that they shall never be forgotten.

April 3^rd

Nis City Mayor Darko Bulatovic met with H.E. Ambassador of Norway Mr. Arne Sanes Bjornstad, who led the Nordic Business Alliance delegation in their visit to Nis. The cooperation with companies in Norway, Sweden and Finland, and attracting investors from these countries, as well as facilitating the procedures for their business operation in Nis were the topics of the meeting between the city management and the representatives of Nordic Business Alliance. Companies from Norway, Sweden and Finland, whose representatives visited Niš, can count on the help of the city government and national institutions if they decide to invest in this part of Serbia, as the Nis City Mayor Darko Bulatović said.

“Today we talked about the possibility of opening the production capacity and the availability of educated and highly skilled workforce, as well as educational institutions in the city. This was an opportunity to see why Nis is excellent destination that we would recommend to any company to start their business operations here” as Ambassador Bjonrnstad said.

The goal of Nordic Business Alliance in Serbia is to promote and strengthen the network and cooperation between Nordic companies and Serbia and to contribute to the development of business relations and activities (between the Nordic countries and Serbia).

April 1^st

Nis City Mayor Darko Bulatovic and the President of the Nis City Municipality Palilula Aleksandar Zdrale Plilula visited the village of Donje Međurovo where, eight years ago, the villagers were promised that they would get new sewage network. This big problem will finally get its solution. During the visit it was announced that this phase of work would be completed by the end of April. Mayor Bulatovic said that this phase included the construction of 2,2 km of the missing secondary network. The value of these works is 13.6 million dinars. Upon the completion of the construction works the Public Utility Company Naissus will take over with the maintenance of the system. After that the connecting of all village households the sewage system would be done.

April 1^st

Nis City Mayor Darko Bulatovic and the presidents of the Nis City Municipalities Crveni Krst and Pantelej Miroslav Milutinovic and Bratimir Vasiljevic visited the construction works on the secondary water supply network in the village of Hum, whose completion would solve problems, not just for the residents of this village, but for the residents of the village of Brenica. Mayor Bulatovic said that works began a month before that and that they would be completed by June. The works include the construction of pushing pipeline in the length of 2300 m and the construction of the secondary network in the length of 5 km. Also the pump station is being constructed which necessary for later is bringing water to the village of Rujnik which will enable the smooth supply of drinking water to the villages of Hum and Brenica. Mayor Bulatovic added that in the future the whole network would be designed for upper part of the village of Huma so that these works could start this year. The value of construction works is 41 million dinars.

March 28^th, 2017
The Association of the Independent Craftsmen and Entrepreneurs of the City of Nis should play a key role in the implementation of the project of dual education and should stand as a significant factor in the economic development of the City of Nis- this has been stated at the reception for the representatives of the association at the Office of the Chairman of the Assembly of the City of Niš, Mr. Rade Rajković.
The Chairman of the Assembly of the City of Niš, Mr. Rajković explained that skills and knowledge of the high school students would be significantly enhanced through the active role of members of the association in developing dual education. These young people will acquire necessary practice by applicable work in the workshops and in the small companies, so as to be able to independently run their own business and be more competitive in the labor market.

On this occasion, certain problems, some members of the association are faced with, were also discussed. This primarily refers to the current problem of restoring order in setting up the garden in front of the catering facilities. Catering providers do not seek exemption from the city decisions, but they expect them to be adopted in consultations with them. As a solution to this problem and similar ones, it has been proposed to establish a work group made up of the representatives of the competent city institutions and of the association, as well as that decisions agreed upon should have a reasonable deadlines related to the beginning of their  usage and should be applied equally to all.

In addition, the representatives of the Association of Independent Craftsmen and Entrepreneurs of the City of Nis informed the Chairman, Mr.Rajković about some of their ideas, such as the project of creating a Center of traditional crafts within the Fortress. This center would bring together a larger number of craftsmen, working as a business cooperative with the focus on traditional crafts, and it should hold great tourist significance.

Nis City Council Member Jelena Mitrovski met with the team that has been working on the preparation of the documentary dedicated to the “Hippie Valley” in Nis. The producer of the film is Mr. Oliver Paunovic, General Manager of the Nis City Marketing Center and the film director is Mr. Bobi Rajkovic.

“I have no doubt that the city needs the film” memory “of this street. I heard from my friends who are older than me about this street and their stories were always interesting. I hope that while preparing this documentary we will meet many more people who “grew up” in this street and thus witnessed some more carefree times as some would say@, as Paunovic said at the reception at Nis City Hall.

Nis was the only city in the former Yugoslavia which had a unique place where the young used to hang out in the evenings, the famous Hippie Valley, which was known about from Vardar to Triglav. Back in the seventies Vladimir Nazor Street was for everyone Hippie Valley. The tourists who visited Nis at those times were confused by the number of young people strolling every night or just hanging out.

The script for the film was written by famous Nis actor and playwright Miriljub Riki Nedovic while the moderators in the film and the contemporaries of Hippie Valley are Bane Miljkovic, former most famous DJ in the city and Dragan Arandjelovic Ara, who launched the campaign that special Board would be placed in Vladmira Nazora Street as a reminder that once it was the Hippie Valley.

On the occasion of March 24^th, the day when the NATO bombing started in 1999, the memorial service was held and the flower wreaths were laid for the victims of the aggression. The memorial service was held by Nis Eparchy priests. On the behalf of the City of Nis the wreaths were laid by the President of the Nis City Assembly Mr. Rade Rajkovic and Deputy Mayor Prof. Dr. Milos Bandjur.

In the memory of the victims of NATO bombing two monuments were erected. The memorial chapel in the park between the Fortress and the University building was built by the city government, while the monument across the street was built the Yugoslav Army.
During the three months of bombing, air-raid sirens sounded in Nis for 129 times. The city was under the air strikes for 52 days, 5 hours and 14 minutes.  56 citizens of Nis were killed, more than 200 were injured, 120 houses were demolished and more than 3 000 buildings damaged.