April 23^rd

Nis City Mayor Darko Bulatovic met with Mr. Harry Roberts, an IT expert working for Google, who was in Nis giving the lecture at the IT Conference and Job Fair IT-Connect. During the conversation the Mayor pointed out that the funds that the state allocated for the development of IT sector in Serbia as well as all the activities that City of Nis was doing to assist the development of IT community in Nis. “We have supported the establishment of Start Up Center for the students and young entrepreneurs in IT sector, we are building the extension lamella at the Faculty of Electronic Engineering intended for the R&D laboratory, and we have started the construction works for the Science Technological Park by which the City of Nis was supporting the creation of the innovative ecosystems for the companies who will operate from the STP. Also, this year we will organize the fifth-in –a-row Forum of Advance Technologies in Nis. These are all huge steps for us so that we could catch up with the rest of the world in this sector and even achieve more”, as Mayor Bulatovic said. Mr. Roberts spoke about his experience in working in this sector and his views on IT community in Nis. His guest lecture at IT Conference and Job Fair IT-Connect was the opportunity for developers from Nis t\to learn from one of the best world experts.  The organizers pointed out that the IT – Connect was a growing regional IT community, bringing together more than 10,000 IT professionals from all over the region, with the goal of strengthening this sector and networking companies and professionals. So far, more than 100 IT companies from the region have cooperated with this organization.

April12^th

The City of Nis delegation visited the Rognan –Saltdal in Norway upon the invitation of the officials of Saltdal municipality, with whom City of Nis nurtures twinning relationships since the early 1980s. The delegation consisted of the member of Nis City Council Mrs. Tijana Djordjevic Ilic and the members of the Dance Club Boom 018 from Nis, who took part at the UKM Nordland festival as the part of the cultural exchange programme between two cities.  This visit of Nis City delegation was the opportunity to learn more about  Yugoslav prisoners in Norway during WW2, visit the memorials along the Blood Way Road and pay personal respects to the victims who were laid to their final rest but also learn about the friendship that was then created between the prisoners and the local population. This friendship continued through the cooperation between the municipalities in Norway and municipalities in Serbia. It is important to maintain these connections seeking for new joint content and transferring it to future generations which will ensure the longevity of these contacts.

April 8^th

The International Roma Day was celebrated at Nis City Hall. Nis City Mayor Darko Bulatović congratulated the members of the Roma national minority and expressed the hope that in the future the Roma population would not be spoken about only in the context of the community facing hardships, but about the community that was progressing and fulfilling all its potentials and needs. The ceremony in the City Hall was organized by non-governmental organizations whose work focuses on achieving the civic needs of the Roma minority. Mr. Osman Balic, the President of the Yurom Center said that the Roma people today were one of the youngest people in Europe who were making the fastest progress in their own development. The Roma population started settling in the 19^th century in Nis region.

April 2^nd

The Ambassador of Slovenia to Serbia, Mr. Iztok Jarc visited Nis and met with Nis City Mayor Darko Bulatovic at Nis City Hall on the occasion of which the two officials discussed economic, industrial and sports cooperation between the City of Nis and Slovenia. “Slovenia is the country whose trade with Serbia is on average growing by 10 percent every year with a total value of around one billion euros per year,” Ambassador Jarc said, adding that he was especially looking forward to introduction of direct flights between Ljubljana and Nis, which should start from July 1st this year. Slovenia’s investments in Serbia are quite large, so about 25 000 of our citizens are employed in Slovenian companies operating in our country. Mayor Bulatovic emphasized the importance of establishing an airline between Nis and the Slovenian capital, and expressed his belief that this traffic link could contribute to the arrival of a number of Slovenian tourists to these parts, as Belgrade and Novi Sad are visited by about 100,000 Slovenian tourists every year. This year Nis will host one the groups at the European women’s basketball championship, to which Slovenian team belongs, so a lot of tourists are expected. The meeting with the Mayor was followed by the meeting with the representatives of the business and tourist sector from Nis.

March 29^th

Nis City Mayor Darko Bulatovic announced that the Serbian government adopted the decision of establishing routes of public interest in air traffic, based on which, from  July 1^st this year and until June 30^th  2023, the flights would be established to 12 cities in Western Europe. There will be flights to Nuremberg, Hannover, Frankfurt, Karlsruhe and Friedrichshafen in Germany, Gothenburg in Sweden, Bologna and Rome in Italy, Salzburg in Austria, Budapest in Hungary and Ljubljana in Slovenia twice a week and to Tivat in Montenegro three times a week, but only during the summer season from May to October. “This is the confirmation that Nis is among the priorities of the state. This is the result of almost everyday contacts with the President Aleksandar Vucic and the Prime Minister Ana Brnabic. This is the result of countless conversations and meetings with the Deputy Prime Minister Zorana Mihajlovic and her team, and therefore I can proudly say that Nis officially has become a regional air traffic center, “said Mayor Bulatovic. He stressed that the economy, in which the state and the city invested, would gain a new impetus, it would facilitate investors coming to Nis and their meetings with local partners and it would facilitate access to the markets in Western Europe. “Of course, this is also important for the development of tourism, and certainly for our diaspora, because the destinations have been defined according to the actual needs, but there was not enough commercial justification for their launch, without the help of the state,” stressed Mayor Bulatovic. “This puts stop to all stories and malicious comments on closing the airport. “As we have agreed with Minister Mihajlovic, the headquarters of the company Airports of Serbia would be in Nis. All this, clearly show to the citizens of Nis and the southeast of Serbia that the opposite claims were clearly extremely malicious, inaccurate and directed against the development of not only the airport, “Mayor Bulatovic said at the press conference.

March 26^th

Nis City Mayor Darko Bulatovic met with the Ambassador of the Kingdom of Belgium to Serbia, His Excellency Mr. Kun Adam and talked about the possibilities for improving cooperation in areas of culture, language, education and economy. “We have almost the same opinion on all these topics, which is that the potentials for progress that are there should be used,” Mayor Bulatovic said after the meeting. Ambassador Kun Adam said that he was in Nis for the first time and that this city was very interesting for potential Belgium investors. He said that efforts should be made in this direction, to bring more Belgium investors to the region of Nis. First steps were done at the presentation of the support programs and subsidies provided to Belgian companies operating in our country organized by the Development Agency of Serbia, the Office for Economics and Trade of the Embassy of Belgium in Serbia and the Belgian-Serbian Business Association when the Office for Local Economic Development and Projects of the City of Nis, as an example of good practice in attracting foreign direct investments, presented its work and showed why Nis was declared the champion of local economic development and the winner of the prestigious Financial Times award.

March 24^th

The commemoration was held and the respects were paid at memorial monuments dedicated to the victims of the NATO aggression which began exactly 20 years ago. A number of delegations from the army, police, districts, local self-government and city municipalities, as well as the families of those killed during the NATO aggression and the associations for fostering the tradition of the liberation wars of Serbia, laid flower wreaths paying their respect. Nis City Mayor Darko Bulatovic addressed the audience on the behalf of the City of Nis evoking recollection of the days of the Serbian sufferings during the aggression  and said that the victims should never be forgotten, and then he paraphrased the words of the Serbian anthem which mentioned the ship and he said that this ship must in the future sail over peaceful sea and that today Serbia had friends in the world and that the state leadership with all its forces stood for the peace and prosperity of our country. The 20^th anniversary of the NATO bombing of the former Yugoslavia which lasted for 11 weeks and, unofficially, left some 2,500 civilians and 1,000 soldiers and police officers dead, was marked by commemoration all over the country. The bombing lasted for 78 days, significantly damaging the infrastructure, commercial property, healthcare facilities and media and military buildings.

March 20^th

Nis City Mayor Darko Bulatovic spoke today with the Deputy Prime Minister of the Republic of Bulgaria Ms. Mariana Nikolova. The topic of the meeting was creating conditions for the improvement of, first of all, economic cooperation, but also the possibilities for establishing closer links in science, education and culture. The companies Nis Brewery and Trace, owned by Bulgarian companies, have been prominent and have been working successfully for many years, as well as numerous firms with developed businesses in the neighboring country. Mayor Bulatovic presented to the Deputy Prime Minister of Bulgaria the infrastructure projects that were being implemented in this area, highlighting the completion of the highway and electrification of the Nis-Dimitrovgrad railway line which was of importance to both countries. “I am proud that more and more tourists from neighboring Bulgaria are coming to Nis each year and I would like to extend this successful cooperation in tourism to all other fields, primarily through the cooperation of small and medium-sized enterprises that are currently the most important, “said the Mayor of Nis. The Bulgarian Deputy Prime Minister stressed her readiness to organize, perhaps in Nis, a Serbian-Bulgarian Business Forum that would bring together businessmen and economists from two countries and represent the opportunity for new business operations and the arrival of new investors. The meeting was also attended by the Ambassador of Bulgaria in Belgrade Mr. Radko Vlajkov, the director of Regional Chamber of Commerce Nis Mr. Aleksandar Milicevic as well as a number of businessmen from this area who have long-term business cooperation with Bulgarian companies.

MAYOR BULATOVIC: WE ARE CONTINUING WITH THE BIGGEST PROJECT IN THE ENVIRONMENTAL SECTOR IN THIS PART OF EUROPE
March 19th

The Governing Board of the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida) and the Ambassador of Sweden Mr. Jan Lundin visited Nis and met with the Nis City Mayor Darko Bulatovic and the representatives of the City of Nis Office for Local Economic Development and Projects to discuss sustainable urban development. Nis is the first city in Serbia that the Sida Board visited, as Sweden is supporting the preparations of building a wastewater treatment plant in the Nis. The Swedish support to Serbia, including the development cooperation, is based on Serbia´s commitment to the EU integration process. The Swedish Government is evaluating the results of the current cooperation strategy and assessing further support to Serbia after 2020. Today the development program is 11 million euro per year and covers the areas of democracy and rule of law, economic integration and environment and climate. “Sweden and Serbia have a long history of cooperation, including development cooperation. The Board wants to know more about priorities for cooperation today – and in the future. In Nis we have a good example of cooperation. Together with the Ministry of Environment, the City of Nis and the EU we join forces to build a waste water treatment plant. Sustainable urban development is necessary to secure the health of citizens, the rivers, air and soil and economic development. The project in Nis includes close cooperation between the Ministry of Environment, local authorities and representatives in the City of Nis within the Swedish PEID project (Priority Environmental Infrastructure for Development). The PEID project will support the preparation of the conceptual design and the tender documents for the waste water treatment plant and collectors. Under the IPA2018 programme, the EU has planned to fund the construction of the Nis waste water treatment plant for approximately 43 million euro” as Ms. Yvonne Gustafsson, the Chair of Board, said. Nis City Mayor Darko Bulatovic expressed his great gratitude to the Swedish Development Agency for donations and great work on this, for the City of Nis, an extremely important project. “I would like to thank Ambassador Lundin and the representatives of the Swedish Agency for many meetings and discussions we have had related to the project and expressed sincere desire that it really succeeded. We are close to the final stage of the project. The City of Nis has fulfilled all obligations to this day, as well as the project team, and we expect that everything will continue according to the agreed dynamic plan, to the satisfaction of all of us, because together we are implementing the largest ecological project in this part of Europe, “said the Mayor of Nis. With the waste water treatment in Nis, it is estimated that Nisava River will be cleaner for 11.000 tons of sludge and solid waste annually which will give better health for all citizens and reduced risks of diseases.

100 DAYS BEFORE THE START OF WOMEN EUROPEAN BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIP
March 19th
The 2019 European Women Basketball Championship, commonly called EuroBasket Women 2019 will be the 37th edition of the continental tournament in women’s basketball, sanctioned by the FIBA Europe. The tournament will be co-held in Serbia and Latvia from 27 June to 7 July 2019. By symbolic countdown the official promotion of the European Championship for women in basketball started. Nis City Mayor Darko Bulatović pressed the button marking the beginning of the countdown to EuroBasket Women 2019 which would start in Nis for exactly 100 days. “By symbolically starting these watches, we remind ourselves and the citizens that we have begun counting for the last 100 days until EuroBasket Women 2019. I would like to cordially welcome all the guests to the imperial Nis, and for our basketball players I wish great matches, victories and winning of gold! “as Nis City Mayor said.