The O�ce for Local Economic Development was established within the implementation of USAID MEGA programme and it is supported �nancially and technically by LEDIB programme which is �nanced by Kingdom of Demark Ministry of Interior.

The ceremonial opening was attended by Miloš Simonovic, Niš City Mayor, Mladjan Dinkić, Republic of Serbia Minister for Economy and Regional Development, Verica Kalanović, Republic of Serbia Minister for National Investment

The o�ce for local economic development was opened in Niš yesterday. The o�ce was organised as a special unit within the Mayor's o�ce whose primary tasks are advancement of local economic development, the attraction of new investments, providing support to local business community, the promotion of entrepreneurship and the creation of the conditions for life quality improvements, for economic development of Niš City through initiating, managing, supervising and implementing the projects within the scope of local economic development.

In this Item:

O�ce For Local Economic Development Opened

City Development Plans Presented To State Leaders

Law On Regional Development Draft Presented

land Management And

Administration Modernisation Projec Presented

Unique Development Policy For All City Municipalities

Statute Of Vojvodina Proposal Presented In Niš

Niš – State Cultural Center

Unique City Policy Towards Republican Government

Niš Under Snow

City Emergency Department Ward Opened In The City Municipality

Niška Banja

The Aniversary Of Breako From Crveni Krst Concentration Camp

City Schoolarships For Talented Pupils And Students

More Financial Means And Better Conditions For Married Couples

Without Children

Medical Waste Treatment Center Opened

Web Service For Tax Application Submission Opened

Survey On Niš City Enterprises And Enterpreneurs

Niš City Mayor About Amendment To Law On Excise

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OFFICE FOR LOCAL ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT OPENED

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CITY DEVELOPMENT PLANS PRESENTED TO STATE LEADERS

Programme, James Stein, the director of USAID o�ce for economic development, Jorgen Andersen, minister councilor from Danish Ministry of Exterior and the representatives of USAID and LEDIB programmes.

With the objective of attracting new investments and extending local business activities, the O�ce for Local Economic Development will improve the cooperation between the institutions responsible for economic development and promote the business concept which will re�ect positively on local community. This o�ce will also create the database of available human resources and available land sites together with National Employment Service, local companies, new domestic and foreign investors.

Niš City Mayor Miloš Simonović, together with his associates, held the working meeting in Niš with the Republic of Serbia Minister for Economy and Regional Development, Mladjan Dinkić, and Republic of Serbia Minister for National Investment Programme, Verica Kalanović. On this occasion the Mayor presented the plans for the development of Niš as the center of South Serbia. Niš City Management presented the potentials of electronics industry as the generators of regional development and attraction of investments. Also the plans for big infrastructural projects for roads, railways, airport and Corridor 10 were presented. Having in mind

that the City of Niš is revising its development strategy, Mayor Simonović expressed his hope that the representatives of the Ministries will get involved in this process. "It is very important to use this development strategy revision process so that regional aspect of this document could be pointed out. This revision should be directed in the way which would enable the City of Niš, which is the third largest city in Serbia, to become the logistic center of this region to which it is entitled to due to its strategic position. This process will be in accordance with the Law on Regional Development which identi�es Niš as the center of South Serbia", said Mayor Simonović.

LAW ON REGIONAL DEVELOPMENTDRAFT PRESENTED

On the occasion of the draft law presentation, the Republic of Serbia Minister for economy and regional development, Mladjan Dinkić, said that the law envisaged the division of Serbia into seven regions so that the state itself and EU as well could invest more into poorly developed regions of the country.

According to the present draft, the City of Niš will be the center of Southern region which will cover the Nišavski, Jablanički, Pčinjski and Toplički districts. Mayor Simonović said that the City of Niš expected much from the Law on Regional Development because the Law positioned Niš City as the regional

center which will guide the development of numerous local communities. "Presently Serbia is asymmetrical in its organization due to the lack of middle level governance on the whole territory of Serbia and that is why the law adoption and application are important", pointed out Mayor Simonović. "It is up to us to de�ne regional interests and, after the law adoption, to develop international cooperation and to apply for the EU funds using institutional frameworks", said Mayor Simonović at the promotion of the Law on Regional Development Draft in Niš.

Law on Regional Development Draft whose adoption is expected this year was presented to Niš public.

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LAND MANAGEMENT AND ADMINISTRATION MODERNISATION PROJECT PRESENTED

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This project is being implemented by the City of Niš with the support of USAID programme MEGA and it is the part of the wider project of the local self government property asset management. The objective of this project is creation of the database of land sites to which the City is entitled and which would serve the city for systematic and planned management of the land sites with the �nal aim of encouraging economic development. The particular project objectives are: the change in approach to property asset management, improvement of land property management and administration, local economic development promotion and investment climate advancement.

The City of Niš identi�ed the land property asset as the most valuable resource. That is why this project is of utmost importance having in mind the expected passing of Law on Public Property. Leasing the land sites and other public property to potential investors will directly contribute to local economic development and to the achievement of the city strategic objectives. This project implies the change in the approach of the relevant local administration departments to

land property management. The very method of leasing the land will be changed to �t the better legal and urban planning preparation of the land property location. The marketing of property location should be improved. The database of the public land properties to which the city is entitled will be created. The procedure for the obtaining the construction permit will be simpli�ed. The implementation of this project does not aim to enable selling the land properties at high prices generating short term income. It aims at using this valuable resource as the function of local economic development. The land site in Donje Medjurovo will be treated as pilot project. The feasibility study on the best urban planning usage will be done for this location. The City Administration Department for property assets will undertake all the necessary steps to prepare this location for the auction. Presently the city regulations on leasing the city land sites, on constructions on city land sites and on fees for using city land sites are being modi�ed. The auction for pilot land site is expected to be held by June 2009. The expected project results are the creation of uniformed database on city land sites which will be updated on regular basis and which will be available to everyone, making available the unused public land sites, the improvement of the procedure and the methods of leasing land sites, improvement of the procedure for construction permit obtaining and improvement of the city investment climate and local economic development.

Niš City Mayor, Miloš Simonović, presented the Project of Niš City Land Management and Administration Modernisation at Niš City Hall.

In relation to Niška Banja municipality president's announcement that he will hold referendum for separation of the municipality from the City, Mayor of Niš, Mr. Miloš Simonović, has reminded that this kind of citizens' declaration requires prior legal procedure with which the initiator did not acquaint the municipality inhabitants. "According to the legal procedure for holding of referendum for the separation of Niška Banja municipality, it is necessary to obtain the signatures of 10% of Niš electoral body, i.e. around 30.000,00 signatures," explained Mayor Simonović. Besides that, it is necessary to develop and submit the elaborate on justi�cation of the initiative for Niška Banja separation. He said that the explanation or analysis of the facts justifying the above mentioned initiative had not arrived up to now. Niš City Mayor, Mr. Miloš Simonović, considers that announcing the initiative on separation of Niška Banja was an act of personal promotion and it is not supported by citizens. "The previous experience has shown that taking care of the city under the motto "let me work" brought nothing good to Niš citizens", reminded Mayor Simonović and he sent the message to local politician and city o�cials to get more involved in the working process without so much demagogy. The city will apply only unique policy for the development of all �ve city municipalities.

UNIQUE DEVELOPMENT POLICY FOR ALL CITY MUNICIPALITIES

www.ni.rs

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STATUTE OF VOJVODINA PROPOSAL PRESENTED IN NIŠ The Mayor of Niš City, Mr. Miloš Simonović, received the Serbian Parliament delegation and the delegation of the Vojvodina Parliament headed by the president of Serbian Parliament Mrs. Slavica Djukić Dejanović and the president of Vojvodina Parliament, Mr. Šandor Egereši.

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They discussed the new Statute of Vojvodina proposal. Mayor Simonović, together with National Parliament members from Niš and with the representatives of Niš City, discussed with Mrs. Djukić Dejanović and Mr. Egereši, about the importance of new Statute for Autonomous Province of Vojvodina as well as the importance of further Serbia regionalization. Since the meeting was attended only by the National Parliament members from governing coalition, the Mayor Simonović expressed his regret that the opposition National Parliament members did not accept the invitation to discuss the proposal for new Vojvodina Statute. The open dialogue about this important document with the representatives of

National Parliament and Vojvodina Parliament was good opportunity for National Parliament members from Niš and Niš City representatives to present their suggestions and comments and make clear all the ambiguities related to new Statute proposal. "One of the basic tasks of the Niš region is to de�ne the regional interests and to create institutional frameworks for the development of the international cooperation after the adoption of the Law on Equal Regional Development", said Mayor Simonović. This visit to the City of Niš represents the continuation of the presentation of the New Vojvodina Statute to local administrations on the Serbian territory with the aim to present this document as accurately as possible.

Niš City Mayor, Mr. Miloš Simonović, held the meeting with Niš City Assembly president, the heads of Niš City Parliamentary groups, the presidents of the city parliamentary party boards and National Parliament members from Niš at Niš City Hall. Forming unique city policy towards Republican Government, ministries and respective institutions was discussed at the meeting. It was agreed to initiate procedure for constituting the Council for City Development. It was also agreed to pass the Decision by City Council on forming Business Economic Council on the city level whose primary role would be to follow the economic situation in the city with regard to the regional consequences of the global economic crisis.

City authorities agreed to focus future Niš City Parliament session on particular topics and to make decisions by reaching consensus since they will be deciding about the issues of vital signi�cance for the functioning of the city itself and the citizens as well. It was also agreed that the meetings between the Mayor and Niš City Assembly president with the heads of Niš City Parliamentary groups and the presidents of the City Parliamentary party boards and National Parliament members from Niš would be regular activity and would be held once a month.

UNIQUE CITY POLICY TOWARDS REPUBLICAN GOVERNMENT

NIŠ – STATE CULTURAL CENTER

The Ministry of Culture State Secretary, Mr. Nadica Momirov, visited the Niš City Mayor, Mr. Miloš Simonović. On this occasion Mrs. Momirov informed Mayor Simonović that Ministry of Culture allocated 51 million dinars for the beginning of the special protective construction over the archeological site Medijana.

Mayor Simonović informed the State Secretary Mrs. Momirov about the city preparation for the celebration of Edict of Milan signing anniversary. Huge campaign led by the city is planned for the year 2013, the year when 1700th anniversary of recognizing the Christianity will be celebrated.

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NIŠ UNDER SNOWNiš City Mayor Miloš Simonović summoned the members of the City Team for Crisis Management: Blagoje Bradić, City Councilor, Dragan Jovanović, Niš City Parliament secretary, Žarko Damjanović, the head of Ministry of Defense Center for Civil Protection and Zoran Stojanović, and the head of the Niš Police Station.

The ward of the city emergency department was opened in the city municipality Niška Banja.

CITY EMERGENCY DEPARTMENT WARD OPENED IN THE CITY MUNICIPALITY NIŠKA BANJA

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Since the heavy snow during the previous night blocked the tra�c in the area of city entrances from the motorways of the Corridor 10, the City Team for Crisis Management analysed the situation on the motorways to Skoplje and Dimitrovgrad. Besides bad weather conditions, the tra�c collapse was caused by late intervention of republic public services in charge for maintaining the roads on the territory of Serbia. Niš City Mayor visited the blocked city entrances. He said that only the special police forces were at the sights. There were no other teams from the services under whose jurisdiction the maintenance of the

road is. The police forces helped to evacuate the drivers and passengers from the buses and trucks stuck in now. Upon the intervention from the Mayor, the food was delivered to the people who were forced to stay at the motorways due to bad weather conditions. City Crisis Management Team concluded at its meeting that Niš Winter Maintenance Services reacted adequately to bad weather conditions. There were some problem with the supplies of electric energy which occurred due o the overload of the system network but the maintenance teams were making all possible e�orts to stabilize the situation.

16.000 citizens of Niška Banja municipality will use the services of the emergency departments. This newly opened emergency ward represents the achievement of one more objective within the scope local primary care policy with the aim of bringing closer local primary care services to the citizens. The ward and its teams will be on call 24 hours a day. Niš City Mayor, Mr. Simonović, announced that the city would apply for the funds from KFW German Development Bank Programme and

those funds would be intended for the opening and equipping of new health care department in the municipality of Niška Banja.

The 67th Anniversary of Nazi German Concentration Camp "Crveni Krst" break-through was marked by placing the �ower wreaths and holding the memorial service. The event was attended by former prisoners, Niš Eparchy priesthood, representatives of the city soldiers associations, scouts and local self government representatives. The concentration camp "12.februar" (Crveni Krst) is one of few preserved fascist camps in Europe, which authentically testi�es on su�ering of Niš and South East Serbia people in the Second World War. The camp was formed by Germans in September 1941 and around 30.000 people were imprisoned in it. There was a dramatic prison breakout on February 12th, 1942. 147 armless people guided by the wish for freedom attacked the guards and 105 of them succeeded to run away.

THE ANIVERSARY OF BREAKOUT FROM CRVENI KRST CONCENTRATION CAMP

The Commission for encouraging talented pupils and students chose the candidates for city scholarships for the year 2009. The Commission approved the scholarships for 246 candidates who completed the public announcement criteria. 133 students, 35 secondary school pupils and 78 sportsmen were awarded the city scholarships.

CITY SCHOOLARSHIPS FOR TALENTED PUPILS AND STUDENTS

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Mayor Miloš Simonović and city councilors Blagoje Bradić and Žarko Ranković visited the Center for In Vitro Fertilization of Gynecology Clinic, Maternity Department of the Clinical Center Niš.

MORE FINANCIAL MEANS AND BETTER CONDITIONS FOR MARRIED COUPLES WITHOUT CHILDREN

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On that occasion Mayor and the city councilors recon�rmed the intention of the City to help married couples who cannot get children in natural way. Arti�cial insemination has not been applied in Niš up to now, neither in public nor in private medical institutions. Women from Niš and South East Serbia will not have to travel any more to Novi Sad or Belgrade in order to subject to in vitro fertilization. Respecting the fact that more and more couples cannot conceive a child in natural way, the city authorities decided to o�er less strict criteria compared to state level criteria for in vitro fertilization �nancing from the city budget. The City does not limit eligibility of married couples by age and it enables them to choose themselves the medical institution which will do the treatment. Families whose quaternary income does not exceed 4 average net salaries in Niš have right to 100% costs remuneration. The couples whose incomes exceed 4

average net salaries can get 50% costs remuneration from the city budget. Since 2006, The City of Niš has allocated the means from the city budget for in vitro fertilization program �nancing. In 2007 80 babies, conceived by this procedure, were born in Niš and in 2008 87 couples asked for �nancial help from the city. At the moment 20 couples for whom in vitro fertilization is the only way to get children are waiting for the approval to use funds from this program. According to the words of Dejan Mitić, the head of the Center for in vitro fertilization in Niš, 12 women completed the process in the past few months and 80 women from Niš and the surroundings are on the waiting list. Niš is one of rare cities in the country which allocates money from the city budget for this purpose. In this year 10 million dinars will be allocated for the support of in vitro fertilization, which is 4 million more compared to the previous year.

The Center for Medical Waste Treatment was opened in the village Trupale near Niš City. The opening ceremony was attended by Niš City Mayor Mr. Miloš Simonović, the Ministry of Health State Secretary Mrs. Nevena Karanović, the Niš Health Care Center management and the representatives of city public utility companies. This is the �rst such center in this part of the country where the medical waste from ten di�erent primary health care institutions will be sterilized. That means that infectious waste will be sterilized before being disposed at the land�ll. The opening of this kind of facility proves that the City is determined to solve the problem of communal waste. The building of the medical waste treatment center is a step forward to getting closer to EU standards and it contributes to establishing ecological environment in the area of Niš City and Niš region. The Ministry of Health State Secretary, Mrs. Nevena Karanović, said that it was planned to build six facilities for medical waste treatment on the territory of Serbia whose total value was 7,2 million euros. Trupale Center required 80.000,00 euros and the money was invested in construction works, equipment and special vehicle for collecting and disposal of the medical waste. This project of constructing and equipping the centers for medical waste treatment is realized by Ministry of Health in cooperation with Niš City and it is �nanced by European Agency for reconstruction and Development.

MEDICAL WASTE TREATMENT CENTER OPENED

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Newsletter: No. 2 - February 2009www.ni.rs

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Y In connection to the adoption of the Amendment to the Law on Excise, the Niš City Mayor, Mr. Miloš Simonovic, addressed the Republic of Serbia Minster of Finance, Mrs. Diana Dragutinović, in the letter where he stated: "Adopting the Amendment to the Law on Excise makes direct breach of the agreement envisaged by CEFTA Action Plan which was agreed between Republic of Serbia Government and the representatives of the tobacco industries. Modi�cations of the Law on Excise, which are referring to tobacco industry, are damaging to the region of whole Southern Serbia where two biggest cigarettes manufacturers function (Philip Morris and British American Tobacco). At the same time, the announced measures concerning tobacco industry, in the long run, would in�uence negatively the export of cigarettes into CEFTA countries, for the Philip Morris, which is the owner of the Tobacco Industry Niš, and for British American Tobacco which is the owner of Vranje Tobacco industry. During last �ve years, these renowned companies operating in the area of South Serbia invested more millions of dollars into our country and the investment announced for this year are put to question due to high excise. Having the above mentioned in mind, the City of Niš, the Nišava district and South Serbia could loose several thousands jobs thus endangering the lives of the potentially unemployed and their families. That is why I am addressing you so that you could �nd the solution for the problem which has been caused by adopting the Amendment of Law on Excise. If nothing is done, besides the destabilization of tobacco industry, the increase of the unemployment will occur, as well as the decrease of the budget income. The smuggling of cigarettes will increase. Bad message will be sent to the potential investors."

NIŠ CITY MAYOR ABOUT AMENDMENT TO LAW ON EXCISE

WEB SERVICE FOR TAX APPLICATION SUBMISSION OPENED

It means that, in the future, all tax payers can submit their tax application for all taxes which are under jurisdiction of local self government. At the home page of the o�cial web site for the application review and submission to tax administration there is tax application form for the property of individual and legal entities as well as the form for local communal taxes. The forms can be downloaded from the web site. The home page also contains the instructions for opening the user account for all the citizens which will use this internet application. With the aim of better informing the citizens, the home page of the tax application review and submission web site, contains the instructions with basic data about the easiest ways of

registering tax on property and the short description of the reasons why tax on property become local income. This web service is just one of the many internet services which will facilitate the citizens in ful�lling their legal obligations and which will reduce their expenses. Besides the advantages for the everyday life of our citizens, further improvement of the electronic government contributes signi�cantly to the economy competitiveness and increases the local administration level of e�ciency. In order to obtain data about tax on property payers on the territory of the Niš City and expansion of data base the City Council adopted the Conclusion on updating the database of communal services users which will be coordinated with tax payers' database.

The City of Niš opened the service for the review and submission of the tax applications via internet at the web site www.lpa.ni.rs

SURVEY ON NIŠ CITY ENTERPRISES AND ENTERPRENEURS

The City of Niš in cooperation with USAID's Municipal Economic Development Program, within the implementation of the building municipality capacities for local economic development (LED) is conducting the survey on the needs and attitudes of small and medium enterprises operating on the territory of the Niš City. The survey will cover

115 enterprises and entrepreneurs in order to obtain information about the city economy needs so that the projects which should be the part of Niš City Development Strategy could be identi�ed. The survey is conducted with the support of the Niš City Department for economy, planning and sustainable city development.

The O�ce for Local Economic Development was established within the implementation of USAID MEGA programme and it is supported �nancially and technically by LEDIB programme which is �nanced by Kingdom of Demark Ministry of Interior.

The ceremonial opening was attended by Miloš Simonovic, Niš City Mayor, Mladjan Dinkić, Republic of Serbia Minister for Economy and Regional Development, Verica Kalanović, Republic of Serbia Minister for National Investment

The o�ce for local economic development was opened in Niš yesterday. The o�ce was organised as a special unit within the Mayor's o�ce whose primary tasks are advancement of local economic development, the attraction of new investments, providing support to local business community, the promotion of entrepreneurship and the creation of the conditions for life quality improvements, for economic development of Niš City through initiating, managing, supervising and implementing the projects within the scope of local economic development.

In this Item:

O�ce For Local Economic Development Opened

City Development Plans Presented To State Leaders

Law On Regional Development Draft Presented

land Management And

Administration Modernisation Projec Presented

Unique Development Policy For All City Municipalities

Statute Of Vojvodina Proposal Presented In Niš

Niš – State Cultural Center

Unique City Policy Towards Republican Government

Niš Under Snow

City Emergency Department Ward Opened In The City Municipality

Niška Banja

The Aniversary Of Breako From Crveni Krst Concentration Camp

City Schoolarships For Talented Pupils And Students

More Financial Means And Better Conditions For Married Couples

Without Children

Medical Waste Treatment Center Opened

Web Service For Tax Application Submission Opened

Survey On Niš City Enterprises And Enterpreneurs

Niš City Mayor About Amendment To Law On Excise

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CITY DEVELOPMENT PLANS PRESENTED TO STATE LEADERS

Programme, James Stein, the director of USAID o�ce for economic development, Jorgen Andersen, minister councilor from Danish Ministry of Exterior and the representatives of USAID and LEDIB programmes.

With the objective of attracting new investments and extending local business activities, the O�ce for Local Economic Development will improve the cooperation between the institutions responsible for economic development and promote the business concept which will re�ect positively on local community. This o�ce will also create the database of available human resources and available land sites together with National Employment Service, local companies, new domestic and foreign investors.

Niš City Mayor Miloš Simonović, together with his associates, held the working meeting in Niš with the Republic of Serbia Minister for Economy and Regional Development, Mladjan Dinkić, and Republic of Serbia Minister for National Investment Programme, Verica Kalanović. On this occasion the Mayor presented the plans for the development of Niš as the center of South Serbia. Niš City Management presented the potentials of electronics industry as the generators of regional development and attraction of investments. Also the plans for big infrastructural projects for roads, railways, airport and Corridor 10 were presented. Having in mind

that the City of Niš is revising its development strategy, Mayor Simonović expressed his hope that the representatives of the Ministries will get involved in this process. "It is very important to use this development strategy revision process so that regional aspect of this document could be pointed out. This revision should be directed in the way which would enable the City of Niš, which is the third largest city in Serbia, to become the logistic center of this region to which it is entitled to due to its strategic position. This process will be in accordance with the Law on Regional Development which identi�es Niš as the center of South Serbia", said Mayor Simonović.

LAW ON REGIONAL DEVELOPMENTDRAFT PRESENTED

On the occasion of the draft law presentation, the Republic of Serbia Minister for economy and regional development, Mladjan Dinkić, said that the law envisaged the division of Serbia into seven regions so that the state itself and EU as well could invest more into poorly developed regions of the country.

According to the present draft, the City of Niš will be the center of Southern region which will cover the Nišavski, Jablanički, Pčinjski and Toplički districts. Mayor Simonović said that the City of Niš expected much from the Law on Regional Development because the Law positioned Niš City as the regional

center which will guide the development of numerous local communities. "Presently Serbia is asymmetrical in its organization due to the lack of middle level governance on the whole territory of Serbia and that is why the law adoption and application are important", pointed out Mayor Simonović. "It is up to us to de�ne regional interests and, after the law adoption, to develop international cooperation and to apply for the EU funds using institutional frameworks", said Mayor Simonović at the promotion of the Law on Regional Development Draft in Niš.

Law on Regional Development Draft whose adoption is expected this year was presented to Niš public.

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LAND MANAGEMENT AND ADMINISTRATION MODERNISATION PROJECT PRESENTED

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This project is being implemented by the City of Niš with the support of USAID programme MEGA and it is the part of the wider project of the local self government property asset management. The objective of this project is creation of the database of land sites to which the City is entitled and which would serve the city for systematic and planned management of the land sites with the �nal aim of encouraging economic development. The particular project objectives are: the change in approach to property asset management, improvement of land property management and administration, local economic development promotion and investment climate advancement.

The City of Niš identi�ed the land property asset as the most valuable resource. That is why this project is of utmost importance having in mind the expected passing of Law on Public Property. Leasing the land sites and other public property to potential investors will directly contribute to local economic development and to the achievement of the city strategic objectives. This project implies the change in the approach of the relevant local administration departments to

land property management. The very method of leasing the land will be changed to �t the better legal and urban planning preparation of the land property location. The marketing of property location should be improved. The database of the public land properties to which the city is entitled will be created. The procedure for the obtaining the construction permit will be simpli�ed. The implementation of this project does not aim to enable selling the land properties at high prices generating short term income. It aims at using this valuable resource as the function of local economic development. The land site in Donje Medjurovo will be treated as pilot project. The feasibility study on the best urban planning usage will be done for this location. The City Administration Department for property assets will undertake all the necessary steps to prepare this location for the auction. Presently the city regulations on leasing the city land sites, on constructions on city land sites and on fees for using city land sites are being modi�ed. The auction for pilot land site is expected to be held by June 2009. The expected project results are the creation of uniformed database on city land sites which will be updated on regular basis and which will be available to everyone, making available the unused public land sites, the improvement of the procedure and the methods of leasing land sites, improvement of the procedure for construction permit obtaining and improvement of the city investment climate and local economic development.

Niš City Mayor, Miloš Simonović, presented the Project of Niš City Land Management and Administration Modernisation at Niš City Hall.

In relation to Niška Banja municipality president's announcement that he will hold referendum for separation of the municipality from the City, Mayor of Niš, Mr. Miloš Simonović, has reminded that this kind of citizens' declaration requires prior legal procedure with which the initiator did not acquaint the municipality inhabitants. "According to the legal procedure for holding of referendum for the separation of Niška Banja municipality, it is necessary to obtain the signatures of 10% of Niš electoral body, i.e. around 30.000,00 signatures," explained Mayor Simonović. Besides that, it is necessary to develop and submit the elaborate on justi�cation of the initiative for Niška Banja separation. He said that the explanation or analysis of the facts justifying the above mentioned initiative had not arrived up to now. Niš City Mayor, Mr. Miloš Simonović, considers that announcing the initiative on separation of Niška Banja was an act of personal promotion and it is not supported by citizens. "The previous experience has shown that taking care of the city under the motto "let me work" brought nothing good to Niš citizens", reminded Mayor Simonović and he sent the message to local politician and city o�cials to get more involved in the working process without so much demagogy. The city will apply only unique policy for the development of all �ve city municipalities.

UNIQUE DEVELOPMENT POLICY FOR ALL CITY MUNICIPALITIES

www.ni.rs

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STATUTE OF VOJVODINA PROPOSAL PRESENTED IN NIŠ The Mayor of Niš City, Mr. Miloš Simonović, received the Serbian Parliament delegation and the delegation of the Vojvodina Parliament headed by the president of Serbian Parliament Mrs. Slavica Djukić Dejanović and the president of Vojvodina Parliament, Mr. Šandor Egereši.

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They discussed the new Statute of Vojvodina proposal. Mayor Simonović, together with National Parliament members from Niš and with the representatives of Niš City, discussed with Mrs. Djukić Dejanović and Mr. Egereši, about the importance of new Statute for Autonomous Province of Vojvodina as well as the importance of further Serbia regionalization. Since the meeting was attended only by the National Parliament members from governing coalition, the Mayor Simonović expressed his regret that the opposition National Parliament members did not accept the invitation to discuss the proposal for new Vojvodina Statute. The open dialogue about this important document with the representatives of

National Parliament and Vojvodina Parliament was good opportunity for National Parliament members from Niš and Niš City representatives to present their suggestions and comments and make clear all the ambiguities related to new Statute proposal. "One of the basic tasks of the Niš region is to de�ne the regional interests and to create institutional frameworks for the development of the international cooperation after the adoption of the Law on Equal Regional Development", said Mayor Simonović. This visit to the City of Niš represents the continuation of the presentation of the New Vojvodina Statute to local administrations on the Serbian territory with the aim to present this document as accurately as possible.

Niš City Mayor, Mr. Miloš Simonović, held the meeting with Niš City Assembly president, the heads of Niš City Parliamentary groups, the presidents of the city parliamentary party boards and National Parliament members from Niš at Niš City Hall. Forming unique city policy towards Republican Government, ministries and respective institutions was discussed at the meeting. It was agreed to initiate procedure for constituting the Council for City Development. It was also agreed to pass the Decision by City Council on forming Business Economic Council on the city level whose primary role would be to follow the economic situation in the city with regard to the regional consequences of the global economic crisis.

City authorities agreed to focus future Niš City Parliament session on particular topics and to make decisions by reaching consensus since they will be deciding about the issues of vital signi�cance for the functioning of the city itself and the citizens as well. It was also agreed that the meetings between the Mayor and Niš City Assembly president with the heads of Niš City Parliamentary groups and the presidents of the City Parliamentary party boards and National Parliament members from Niš would be regular activity and would be held once a month.

UNIQUE CITY POLICY TOWARDS REPUBLICAN GOVERNMENT

NIŠ – STATE CULTURAL CENTER

The Ministry of Culture State Secretary, Mr. Nadica Momirov, visited the Niš City Mayor, Mr. Miloš Simonović. On this occasion Mrs. Momirov informed Mayor Simonović that Ministry of Culture allocated 51 million dinars for the beginning of the special protective construction over the archeological site Medijana.

Mayor Simonović informed the State Secretary Mrs. Momirov about the city preparation for the celebration of Edict of Milan signing anniversary. Huge campaign led by the city is planned for the year 2013, the year when 1700th anniversary of recognizing the Christianity will be celebrated.

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NIŠ UNDER SNOWNiš City Mayor Miloš Simonović summoned the members of the City Team for Crisis Management: Blagoje Bradić, City Councilor, Dragan Jovanović, Niš City Parliament secretary, Žarko Damjanović, the head of Ministry of Defense Center for Civil Protection and Zoran Stojanović, and the head of the Niš Police Station.

The ward of the city emergency department was opened in the city municipality Niška Banja.

CITY EMERGENCY DEPARTMENT WARD OPENED IN THE CITY MUNICIPALITY NIŠKA BANJA

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Since the heavy snow during the previous night blocked the tra�c in the area of city entrances from the motorways of the Corridor 10, the City Team for Crisis Management analysed the situation on the motorways to Skoplje and Dimitrovgrad. Besides bad weather conditions, the tra�c collapse was caused by late intervention of republic public services in charge for maintaining the roads on the territory of Serbia. Niš City Mayor visited the blocked city entrances. He said that only the special police forces were at the sights. There were no other teams from the services under whose jurisdiction the maintenance of the

road is. The police forces helped to evacuate the drivers and passengers from the buses and trucks stuck in now. Upon the intervention from the Mayor, the food was delivered to the people who were forced to stay at the motorways due to bad weather conditions. City Crisis Management Team concluded at its meeting that Niš Winter Maintenance Services reacted adequately to bad weather conditions. There were some problem with the supplies of electric energy which occurred due o the overload of the system network but the maintenance teams were making all possible e�orts to stabilize the situation.

16.000 citizens of Niška Banja municipality will use the services of the emergency departments. This newly opened emergency ward represents the achievement of one more objective within the scope local primary care policy with the aim of bringing closer local primary care services to the citizens. The ward and its teams will be on call 24 hours a day. Niš City Mayor, Mr. Simonović, announced that the city would apply for the funds from KFW German Development Bank Programme and

those funds would be intended for the opening and equipping of new health care department in the municipality of Niška Banja.

The 67th Anniversary of Nazi German Concentration Camp "Crveni Krst" break-through was marked by placing the �ower wreaths and holding the memorial service. The event was attended by former prisoners, Niš Eparchy priesthood, representatives of the city soldiers associations, scouts and local self government representatives. The concentration camp "12.februar" (Crveni Krst) is one of few preserved fascist camps in Europe, which authentically testi�es on su�ering of Niš and South East Serbia people in the Second World War. The camp was formed by Germans in September 1941 and around 30.000 people were imprisoned in it. There was a dramatic prison breakout on February 12th, 1942. 147 armless people guided by the wish for freedom attacked the guards and 105 of them succeeded to run away.

THE ANIVERSARY OF BREAKOUT FROM CRVENI KRST CONCENTRATION CAMP

The Commission for encouraging talented pupils and students chose the candidates for city scholarships for the year 2009. The Commission approved the scholarships for 246 candidates who completed the public announcement criteria. 133 students, 35 secondary school pupils and 78 sportsmen were awarded the city scholarships.

CITY SCHOOLARSHIPS FOR TALENTED PUPILS AND STUDENTS

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Mayor Miloš Simonović and city councilors Blagoje Bradić and Žarko Ranković visited the Center for In Vitro Fertilization of Gynecology Clinic, Maternity Department of the Clinical Center Niš.

MORE FINANCIAL MEANS AND BETTER CONDITIONS FOR MARRIED COUPLES WITHOUT CHILDREN

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On that occasion Mayor and the city councilors recon�rmed the intention of the City to help married couples who cannot get children in natural way. Arti�cial insemination has not been applied in Niš up to now, neither in public nor in private medical institutions. Women from Niš and South East Serbia will not have to travel any more to Novi Sad or Belgrade in order to subject to in vitro fertilization. Respecting the fact that more and more couples cannot conceive a child in natural way, the city authorities decided to o�er less strict criteria compared to state level criteria for in vitro fertilization �nancing from the city budget. The City does not limit eligibility of married couples by age and it enables them to choose themselves the medical institution which will do the treatment. Families whose quaternary income does not exceed 4 average net salaries in Niš have right to 100% costs remuneration. The couples whose incomes exceed 4

average net salaries can get 50% costs remuneration from the city budget. Since 2006, The City of Niš has allocated the means from the city budget for in vitro fertilization program �nancing. In 2007 80 babies, conceived by this procedure, were born in Niš and in 2008 87 couples asked for �nancial help from the city. At the moment 20 couples for whom in vitro fertilization is the only way to get children are waiting for the approval to use funds from this program. According to the words of Dejan Mitić, the head of the Center for in vitro fertilization in Niš, 12 women completed the process in the past few months and 80 women from Niš and the surroundings are on the waiting list. Niš is one of rare cities in the country which allocates money from the city budget for this purpose. In this year 10 million dinars will be allocated for the support of in vitro fertilization, which is 4 million more compared to the previous year.

The Center for Medical Waste Treatment was opened in the village Trupale near Niš City. The opening ceremony was attended by Niš City Mayor Mr. Miloš Simonović, the Ministry of Health State Secretary Mrs. Nevena Karanović, the Niš Health Care Center management and the representatives of city public utility companies. This is the �rst such center in this part of the country where the medical waste from ten di�erent primary health care institutions will be sterilized. That means that infectious waste will be sterilized before being disposed at the land�ll. The opening of this kind of facility proves that the City is determined to solve the problem of communal waste. The building of the medical waste treatment center is a step forward to getting closer to EU standards and it contributes to establishing ecological environment in the area of Niš City and Niš region. The Ministry of Health State Secretary, Mrs. Nevena Karanović, said that it was planned to build six facilities for medical waste treatment on the territory of Serbia whose total value was 7,2 million euros. Trupale Center required 80.000,00 euros and the money was invested in construction works, equipment and special vehicle for collecting and disposal of the medical waste. This project of constructing and equipping the centers for medical waste treatment is realized by Ministry of Health in cooperation with Niš City and it is �nanced by European Agency for reconstruction and Development.

MEDICAL WASTE TREATMENT CENTER OPENED

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Newsletter: No. 2 - February 2009www.ni.rs

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Y In connection to the adoption of the Amendment to the Law on Excise, the Niš City Mayor, Mr. Miloš Simonovic, addressed the Republic of Serbia Minster of Finance, Mrs. Diana Dragutinović, in the letter where he stated: "Adopting the Amendment to the Law on Excise makes direct breach of the agreement envisaged by CEFTA Action Plan which was agreed between Republic of Serbia Government and the representatives of the tobacco industries. Modi�cations of the Law on Excise, which are referring to tobacco industry, are damaging to the region of whole Southern Serbia where two biggest cigarettes manufacturers function (Philip Morris and British American Tobacco). At the same time, the announced measures concerning tobacco industry, in the long run, would in�uence negatively the export of cigarettes into CEFTA countries, for the Philip Morris, which is the owner of the Tobacco Industry Niš, and for British American Tobacco which is the owner of Vranje Tobacco industry. During last �ve years, these renowned companies operating in the area of South Serbia invested more millions of dollars into our country and the investment announced for this year are put to question due to high excise. Having the above mentioned in mind, the City of Niš, the Nišava district and South Serbia could loose several thousands jobs thus endangering the lives of the potentially unemployed and their families. That is why I am addressing you so that you could �nd the solution for the problem which has been caused by adopting the Amendment of Law on Excise. If nothing is done, besides the destabilization of tobacco industry, the increase of the unemployment will occur, as well as the decrease of the budget income. The smuggling of cigarettes will increase. Bad message will be sent to the potential investors."

NIŠ CITY MAYOR ABOUT AMENDMENT TO LAW ON EXCISE

WEB SERVICE FOR TAX APPLICATION SUBMISSION OPENED

It means that, in the future, all tax payers can submit their tax application for all taxes which are under jurisdiction of local self government. At the home page of the o�cial web site for the application review and submission to tax administration there is tax application form for the property of individual and legal entities as well as the form for local communal taxes. The forms can be downloaded from the web site. The home page also contains the instructions for opening the user account for all the citizens which will use this internet application. With the aim of better informing the citizens, the home page of the tax application review and submission web site, contains the instructions with basic data about the easiest ways of

registering tax on property and the short description of the reasons why tax on property become local income. This web service is just one of the many internet services which will facilitate the citizens in ful�lling their legal obligations and which will reduce their expenses. Besides the advantages for the everyday life of our citizens, further improvement of the electronic government contributes signi�cantly to the economy competitiveness and increases the local administration level of e�ciency. In order to obtain data about tax on property payers on the territory of the Niš City and expansion of data base the City Council adopted the Conclusion on updating the database of communal services users which will be coordinated with tax payers' database.

The City of Niš opened the service for the review and submission of the tax applications via internet at the web site www.lpa.ni.rs

SURVEY ON NIŠ CITY ENTERPRISES AND ENTERPRENEURS

The City of Niš in cooperation with USAID's Municipal Economic Development Program, within the implementation of the building municipality capacities for local economic development (LED) is conducting the survey on the needs and attitudes of small and medium enterprises operating on the territory of the Niš City. The survey will cover

115 enterprises and entrepreneurs in order to obtain information about the city economy needs so that the projects which should be the part of Niš City Development Strategy could be identi�ed. The survey is conducted with the support of the Niš City Department for economy, planning and sustainable city development.

The O�ce for Local Economic Development was established within the implementation of USAID MEGA programme and it is supported �nancially and technically by LEDIB programme which is �nanced by Kingdom of Demark Ministry of Interior.

The ceremonial opening was attended by Miloš Simonovic, Niš City Mayor, Mladjan Dinkić, Republic of Serbia Minister for Economy and Regional Development, Verica Kalanović, Republic of Serbia Minister for National Investment

The o�ce for local economic development was opened in Niš yesterday. The o�ce was organised as a special unit within the Mayor's o�ce whose primary tasks are advancement of local economic development, the attraction of new investments, providing support to local business community, the promotion of entrepreneurship and the creation of the conditions for life quality improvements, for economic development of Niš City through initiating, managing, supervising and implementing the projects within the scope of local economic development.

In this Item:

O�ce For Local Economic Development Opened

City Development Plans Presented To State Leaders

Law On Regional Development Draft Presented

land Management And

Administration Modernisation Projec Presented

Unique Development Policy For All City Municipalities

Statute Of Vojvodina Proposal Presented In Niš

Niš – State Cultural Center

Unique City Policy Towards Republican Government

Niš Under Snow

City Emergency Department Ward Opened In The City Municipality

Niška Banja

The Aniversary Of Breako From Crveni Krst Concentration Camp

City Schoolarships For Talented Pupils And Students

More Financial Means And Better Conditions For Married Couples

Without Children

Medical Waste Treatment Center Opened

Web Service For Tax Application Submission Opened

Survey On Niš City Enterprises And Enterpreneurs

Niš City Mayor About Amendment To Law On Excise

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OFFICE FOR LOCAL ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT OPENED

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CITY DEVELOPMENT PLANS PRESENTED TO STATE LEADERS

Programme, James Stein, the director of USAID o�ce for economic development, Jorgen Andersen, minister councilor from Danish Ministry of Exterior and the representatives of USAID and LEDIB programmes.

With the objective of attracting new investments and extending local business activities, the O�ce for Local Economic Development will improve the cooperation between the institutions responsible for economic development and promote the business concept which will re�ect positively on local community. This o�ce will also create the database of available human resources and available land sites together with National Employment Service, local companies, new domestic and foreign investors.

Niš City Mayor Miloš Simonović, together with his associates, held the working meeting in Niš with the Republic of Serbia Minister for Economy and Regional Development, Mladjan Dinkić, and Republic of Serbia Minister for National Investment Programme, Verica Kalanović. On this occasion the Mayor presented the plans for the development of Niš as the center of South Serbia. Niš City Management presented the potentials of electronics industry as the generators of regional development and attraction of investments. Also the plans for big infrastructural projects for roads, railways, airport and Corridor 10 were presented. Having in mind

that the City of Niš is revising its development strategy, Mayor Simonović expressed his hope that the representatives of the Ministries will get involved in this process. "It is very important to use this development strategy revision process so that regional aspect of this document could be pointed out. This revision should be directed in the way which would enable the City of Niš, which is the third largest city in Serbia, to become the logistic center of this region to which it is entitled to due to its strategic position. This process will be in accordance with the Law on Regional Development which identi�es Niš as the center of South Serbia", said Mayor Simonović.

LAW ON REGIONAL DEVELOPMENTDRAFT PRESENTED

On the occasion of the draft law presentation, the Republic of Serbia Minister for economy and regional development, Mladjan Dinkić, said that the law envisaged the division of Serbia into seven regions so that the state itself and EU as well could invest more into poorly developed regions of the country.

According to the present draft, the City of Niš will be the center of Southern region which will cover the Nišavski, Jablanički, Pčinjski and Toplički districts. Mayor Simonović said that the City of Niš expected much from the Law on Regional Development because the Law positioned Niš City as the regional

center which will guide the development of numerous local communities. "Presently Serbia is asymmetrical in its organization due to the lack of middle level governance on the whole territory of Serbia and that is why the law adoption and application are important", pointed out Mayor Simonović. "It is up to us to de�ne regional interests and, after the law adoption, to develop international cooperation and to apply for the EU funds using institutional frameworks", said Mayor Simonović at the promotion of the Law on Regional Development Draft in Niš.

Law on Regional Development Draft whose adoption is expected this year was presented to Niš public.

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LAND MANAGEMENT AND ADMINISTRATION MODERNISATION PROJECT PRESENTED

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This project is being implemented by the City of Niš with the support of USAID programme MEGA and it is the part of the wider project of the local self government property asset management. The objective of this project is creation of the database of land sites to which the City is entitled and which would serve the city for systematic and planned management of the land sites with the �nal aim of encouraging economic development. The particular project objectives are: the change in approach to property asset management, improvement of land property management and administration, local economic development promotion and investment climate advancement.

The City of Niš identi�ed the land property asset as the most valuable resource. That is why this project is of utmost importance having in mind the expected passing of Law on Public Property. Leasing the land sites and other public property to potential investors will directly contribute to local economic development and to the achievement of the city strategic objectives. This project implies the change in the approach of the relevant local administration departments to

land property management. The very method of leasing the land will be changed to �t the better legal and urban planning preparation of the land property location. The marketing of property location should be improved. The database of the public land properties to which the city is entitled will be created. The procedure for the obtaining the construction permit will be simpli�ed. The implementation of this project does not aim to enable selling the land properties at high prices generating short term income. It aims at using this valuable resource as the function of local economic development. The land site in Donje Medjurovo will be treated as pilot project. The feasibility study on the best urban planning usage will be done for this location. The City Administration Department for property assets will undertake all the necessary steps to prepare this location for the auction. Presently the city regulations on leasing the city land sites, on constructions on city land sites and on fees for using city land sites are being modi�ed. The auction for pilot land site is expected to be held by June 2009. The expected project results are the creation of uniformed database on city land sites which will be updated on regular basis and which will be available to everyone, making available the unused public land sites, the improvement of the procedure and the methods of leasing land sites, improvement of the procedure for construction permit obtaining and improvement of the city investment climate and local economic development.

Niš City Mayor, Miloš Simonović, presented the Project of Niš City Land Management and Administration Modernisation at Niš City Hall.

In relation to Niška Banja municipality president's announcement that he will hold referendum for separation of the municipality from the City, Mayor of Niš, Mr. Miloš Simonović, has reminded that this kind of citizens' declaration requires prior legal procedure with which the initiator did not acquaint the municipality inhabitants. "According to the legal procedure for holding of referendum for the separation of Niška Banja municipality, it is necessary to obtain the signatures of 10% of Niš electoral body, i.e. around 30.000,00 signatures," explained Mayor Simonović. Besides that, it is necessary to develop and submit the elaborate on justi�cation of the initiative for Niška Banja separation. He said that the explanation or analysis of the facts justifying the above mentioned initiative had not arrived up to now. Niš City Mayor, Mr. Miloš Simonović, considers that announcing the initiative on separation of Niška Banja was an act of personal promotion and it is not supported by citizens. "The previous experience has shown that taking care of the city under the motto "let me work" brought nothing good to Niš citizens", reminded Mayor Simonović and he sent the message to local politician and city o�cials to get more involved in the working process without so much demagogy. The city will apply only unique policy for the development of all �ve city municipalities.

UNIQUE DEVELOPMENT POLICY FOR ALL CITY MUNICIPALITIES

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STATUTE OF VOJVODINA PROPOSAL PRESENTED IN NIŠ The Mayor of Niš City, Mr. Miloš Simonović, received the Serbian Parliament delegation and the delegation of the Vojvodina Parliament headed by the president of Serbian Parliament Mrs. Slavica Djukić Dejanović and the president of Vojvodina Parliament, Mr. Šandor Egereši.

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They discussed the new Statute of Vojvodina proposal. Mayor Simonović, together with National Parliament members from Niš and with the representatives of Niš City, discussed with Mrs. Djukić Dejanović and Mr. Egereši, about the importance of new Statute for Autonomous Province of Vojvodina as well as the importance of further Serbia regionalization. Since the meeting was attended only by the National Parliament members from governing coalition, the Mayor Simonović expressed his regret that the opposition National Parliament members did not accept the invitation to discuss the proposal for new Vojvodina Statute. The open dialogue about this important document with the representatives of

National Parliament and Vojvodina Parliament was good opportunity for National Parliament members from Niš and Niš City representatives to present their suggestions and comments and make clear all the ambiguities related to new Statute proposal. "One of the basic tasks of the Niš region is to de�ne the regional interests and to create institutional frameworks for the development of the international cooperation after the adoption of the Law on Equal Regional Development", said Mayor Simonović. This visit to the City of Niš represents the continuation of the presentation of the New Vojvodina Statute to local administrations on the Serbian territory with the aim to present this document as accurately as possible.

Niš City Mayor, Mr. Miloš Simonović, held the meeting with Niš City Assembly president, the heads of Niš City Parliamentary groups, the presidents of the city parliamentary party boards and National Parliament members from Niš at Niš City Hall. Forming unique city policy towards Republican Government, ministries and respective institutions was discussed at the meeting. It was agreed to initiate procedure for constituting the Council for City Development. It was also agreed to pass the Decision by City Council on forming Business Economic Council on the city level whose primary role would be to follow the economic situation in the city with regard to the regional consequences of the global economic crisis.

City authorities agreed to focus future Niš City Parliament session on particular topics and to make decisions by reaching consensus since they will be deciding about the issues of vital signi�cance for the functioning of the city itself and the citizens as well. It was also agreed that the meetings between the Mayor and Niš City Assembly president with the heads of Niš City Parliamentary groups and the presidents of the City Parliamentary party boards and National Parliament members from Niš would be regular activity and would be held once a month.

UNIQUE CITY POLICY TOWARDS REPUBLICAN GOVERNMENT

NIŠ – STATE CULTURAL CENTER

The Ministry of Culture State Secretary, Mr. Nadica Momirov, visited the Niš City Mayor, Mr. Miloš Simonović. On this occasion Mrs. Momirov informed Mayor Simonović that Ministry of Culture allocated 51 million dinars for the beginning of the special protective construction over the archeological site Medijana.

Mayor Simonović informed the State Secretary Mrs. Momirov about the city preparation for the celebration of Edict of Milan signing anniversary. Huge campaign led by the city is planned for the year 2013, the year when 1700th anniversary of recognizing the Christianity will be celebrated.

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NIŠ UNDER SNOWNiš City Mayor Miloš Simonović summoned the members of the City Team for Crisis Management: Blagoje Bradić, City Councilor, Dragan Jovanović, Niš City Parliament secretary, Žarko Damjanović, the head of Ministry of Defense Center for Civil Protection and Zoran Stojanović, and the head of the Niš Police Station.

The ward of the city emergency department was opened in the city municipality Niška Banja.

CITY EMERGENCY DEPARTMENT WARD OPENED IN THE CITY MUNICIPALITY NIŠKA BANJA

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Since the heavy snow during the previous night blocked the tra�c in the area of city entrances from the motorways of the Corridor 10, the City Team for Crisis Management analysed the situation on the motorways to Skoplje and Dimitrovgrad. Besides bad weather conditions, the tra�c collapse was caused by late intervention of republic public services in charge for maintaining the roads on the territory of Serbia. Niš City Mayor visited the blocked city entrances. He said that only the special police forces were at the sights. There were no other teams from the services under whose jurisdiction the maintenance of the

road is. The police forces helped to evacuate the drivers and passengers from the buses and trucks stuck in now. Upon the intervention from the Mayor, the food was delivered to the people who were forced to stay at the motorways due to bad weather conditions. City Crisis Management Team concluded at its meeting that Niš Winter Maintenance Services reacted adequately to bad weather conditions. There were some problem with the supplies of electric energy which occurred due o the overload of the system network but the maintenance teams were making all possible e�orts to stabilize the situation.

16.000 citizens of Niška Banja municipality will use the services of the emergency departments. This newly opened emergency ward represents the achievement of one more objective within the scope local primary care policy with the aim of bringing closer local primary care services to the citizens. The ward and its teams will be on call 24 hours a day. Niš City Mayor, Mr. Simonović, announced that the city would apply for the funds from KFW German Development Bank Programme and

those funds would be intended for the opening and equipping of new health care department in the municipality of Niška Banja.

The 67th Anniversary of Nazi German Concentration Camp "Crveni Krst" break-through was marked by placing the �ower wreaths and holding the memorial service. The event was attended by former prisoners, Niš Eparchy priesthood, representatives of the city soldiers associations, scouts and local self government representatives. The concentration camp "12.februar" (Crveni Krst) is one of few preserved fascist camps in Europe, which authentically testi�es on su�ering of Niš and South East Serbia people in the Second World War. The camp was formed by Germans in September 1941 and around 30.000 people were imprisoned in it. There was a dramatic prison breakout on February 12th, 1942. 147 armless people guided by the wish for freedom attacked the guards and 105 of them succeeded to run away.

THE ANIVERSARY OF BREAKOUT FROM CRVENI KRST CONCENTRATION CAMP

The Commission for encouraging talented pupils and students chose the candidates for city scholarships for the year 2009. The Commission approved the scholarships for 246 candidates who completed the public announcement criteria. 133 students, 35 secondary school pupils and 78 sportsmen were awarded the city scholarships.

CITY SCHOOLARSHIPS FOR TALENTED PUPILS AND STUDENTS

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Mayor Miloš Simonović and city councilors Blagoje Bradić and Žarko Ranković visited the Center for In Vitro Fertilization of Gynecology Clinic, Maternity Department of the Clinical Center Niš.

MORE FINANCIAL MEANS AND BETTER CONDITIONS FOR MARRIED COUPLES WITHOUT CHILDREN

Newsletter: No. 2 - February 2009www.ni.rs

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On that occasion Mayor and the city councilors recon�rmed the intention of the City to help married couples who cannot get children in natural way. Arti�cial insemination has not been applied in Niš up to now, neither in public nor in private medical institutions. Women from Niš and South East Serbia will not have to travel any more to Novi Sad or Belgrade in order to subject to in vitro fertilization. Respecting the fact that more and more couples cannot conceive a child in natural way, the city authorities decided to o�er less strict criteria compared to state level criteria for in vitro fertilization �nancing from the city budget. The City does not limit eligibility of married couples by age and it enables them to choose themselves the medical institution which will do the treatment. Families whose quaternary income does not exceed 4 average net salaries in Niš have right to 100% costs remuneration. The couples whose incomes exceed 4

average net salaries can get 50% costs remuneration from the city budget. Since 2006, The City of Niš has allocated the means from the city budget for in vitro fertilization program �nancing. In 2007 80 babies, conceived by this procedure, were born in Niš and in 2008 87 couples asked for �nancial help from the city. At the moment 20 couples for whom in vitro fertilization is the only way to get children are waiting for the approval to use funds from this program. According to the words of Dejan Mitić, the head of the Center for in vitro fertilization in Niš, 12 women completed the process in the past few months and 80 women from Niš and the surroundings are on the waiting list. Niš is one of rare cities in the country which allocates money from the city budget for this purpose. In this year 10 million dinars will be allocated for the support of in vitro fertilization, which is 4 million more compared to the previous year.

The Center for Medical Waste Treatment was opened in the village Trupale near Niš City. The opening ceremony was attended by Niš City Mayor Mr. Miloš Simonović, the Ministry of Health State Secretary Mrs. Nevena Karanović, the Niš Health Care Center management and the representatives of city public utility companies. This is the �rst such center in this part of the country where the medical waste from ten di�erent primary health care institutions will be sterilized. That means that infectious waste will be sterilized before being disposed at the land�ll. The opening of this kind of facility proves that the City is determined to solve the problem of communal waste. The building of the medical waste treatment center is a step forward to getting closer to EU standards and it contributes to establishing ecological environment in the area of Niš City and Niš region. The Ministry of Health State Secretary, Mrs. Nevena Karanović, said that it was planned to build six facilities for medical waste treatment on the territory of Serbia whose total value was 7,2 million euros. Trupale Center required 80.000,00 euros and the money was invested in construction works, equipment and special vehicle for collecting and disposal of the medical waste. This project of constructing and equipping the centers for medical waste treatment is realized by Ministry of Health in cooperation with Niš City and it is �nanced by European Agency for reconstruction and Development.

MEDICAL WASTE TREATMENT CENTER OPENED

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Y In connection to the adoption of the Amendment to the Law on Excise, the Niš City Mayor, Mr. Miloš Simonovic, addressed the Republic of Serbia Minster of Finance, Mrs. Diana Dragutinović, in the letter where he stated: "Adopting the Amendment to the Law on Excise makes direct breach of the agreement envisaged by CEFTA Action Plan which was agreed between Republic of Serbia Government and the representatives of the tobacco industries. Modi�cations of the Law on Excise, which are referring to tobacco industry, are damaging to the region of whole Southern Serbia where two biggest cigarettes manufacturers function (Philip Morris and British American Tobacco). At the same time, the announced measures concerning tobacco industry, in the long run, would in�uence negatively the export of cigarettes into CEFTA countries, for the Philip Morris, which is the owner of the Tobacco Industry Niš, and for British American Tobacco which is the owner of Vranje Tobacco industry. During last �ve years, these renowned companies operating in the area of South Serbia invested more millions of dollars into our country and the investment announced for this year are put to question due to high excise. Having the above mentioned in mind, the City of Niš, the Nišava district and South Serbia could loose several thousands jobs thus endangering the lives of the potentially unemployed and their families. That is why I am addressing you so that you could �nd the solution for the problem which has been caused by adopting the Amendment of Law on Excise. If nothing is done, besides the destabilization of tobacco industry, the increase of the unemployment will occur, as well as the decrease of the budget income. The smuggling of cigarettes will increase. Bad message will be sent to the potential investors."

NIŠ CITY MAYOR ABOUT AMENDMENT TO LAW ON EXCISE

WEB SERVICE FOR TAX APPLICATION SUBMISSION OPENED

It means that, in the future, all tax payers can submit their tax application for all taxes which are under jurisdiction of local self government. At the home page of the o�cial web site for the application review and submission to tax administration there is tax application form for the property of individual and legal entities as well as the form for local communal taxes. The forms can be downloaded from the web site. The home page also contains the instructions for opening the user account for all the citizens which will use this internet application. With the aim of better informing the citizens, the home page of the tax application review and submission web site, contains the instructions with basic data about the easiest ways of

registering tax on property and the short description of the reasons why tax on property become local income. This web service is just one of the many internet services which will facilitate the citizens in ful�lling their legal obligations and which will reduce their expenses. Besides the advantages for the everyday life of our citizens, further improvement of the electronic government contributes signi�cantly to the economy competitiveness and increases the local administration level of e�ciency. In order to obtain data about tax on property payers on the territory of the Niš City and expansion of data base the City Council adopted the Conclusion on updating the database of communal services users which will be coordinated with tax payers' database.

The City of Niš opened the service for the review and submission of the tax applications via internet at the web site www.lpa.ni.rs

SURVEY ON NIŠ CITY ENTERPRISES AND ENTERPRENEURS

The City of Niš in cooperation with USAID's Municipal Economic Development Program, within the implementation of the building municipality capacities for local economic development (LED) is conducting the survey on the needs and attitudes of small and medium enterprises operating on the territory of the Niš City. The survey will cover

115 enterprises and entrepreneurs in order to obtain information about the city economy needs so that the projects which should be the part of Niš City Development Strategy could be identi�ed. The survey is conducted with the support of the Niš City Department for economy, planning and sustainable city development.

The O�ce for Local Economic Development was established within the implementation of USAID MEGA programme and it is supported �nancially and technically by LEDIB programme which is �nanced by Kingdom of Demark Ministry of Interior.

The ceremonial opening was attended by Miloš Simonovic, Niš City Mayor, Mladjan Dinkić, Republic of Serbia Minister for Economy and Regional Development, Verica Kalanović, Republic of Serbia Minister for National Investment

The o�ce for local economic development was opened in Niš yesterday. The o�ce was organised as a special unit within the Mayor's o�ce whose primary tasks are advancement of local economic development, the attraction of new investments, providing support to local business community, the promotion of entrepreneurship and the creation of the conditions for life quality improvements, for economic development of Niš City through initiating, managing, supervising and implementing the projects within the scope of local economic development.

In this Item:

O�ce For Local Economic Development Opened

City Development Plans Presented To State Leaders

Law On Regional Development Draft Presented

land Management And

Administration Modernisation Projec Presented

Unique Development Policy For All City Municipalities

Statute Of Vojvodina Proposal Presented In Niš

Niš – State Cultural Center

Unique City Policy Towards Republican Government

Niš Under Snow

City Emergency Department Ward Opened In The City Municipality

Niška Banja

The Aniversary Of Breako From Crveni Krst Concentration Camp

City Schoolarships For Talented Pupils And Students

More Financial Means And Better Conditions For Married Couples

Without Children

Medical Waste Treatment Center Opened

Web Service For Tax Application Submission Opened

Survey On Niš City Enterprises And Enterpreneurs

Niš City Mayor About Amendment To Law On Excise

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OFFICE FOR LOCAL ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT OPENED

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CITY DEVELOPMENT PLANS PRESENTED TO STATE LEADERS

Programme, James Stein, the director of USAID o�ce for economic development, Jorgen Andersen, minister councilor from Danish Ministry of Exterior and the representatives of USAID and LEDIB programmes.

With the objective of attracting new investments and extending local business activities, the O�ce for Local Economic Development will improve the cooperation between the institutions responsible for economic development and promote the business concept which will re�ect positively on local community. This o�ce will also create the database of available human resources and available land sites together with National Employment Service, local companies, new domestic and foreign investors.

Niš City Mayor Miloš Simonović, together with his associates, held the working meeting in Niš with the Republic of Serbia Minister for Economy and Regional Development, Mladjan Dinkić, and Republic of Serbia Minister for National Investment Programme, Verica Kalanović. On this occasion the Mayor presented the plans for the development of Niš as the center of South Serbia. Niš City Management presented the potentials of electronics industry as the generators of regional development and attraction of investments. Also the plans for big infrastructural projects for roads, railways, airport and Corridor 10 were presented. Having in mind

that the City of Niš is revising its development strategy, Mayor Simonović expressed his hope that the representatives of the Ministries will get involved in this process. "It is very important to use this development strategy revision process so that regional aspect of this document could be pointed out. This revision should be directed in the way which would enable the City of Niš, which is the third largest city in Serbia, to become the logistic center of this region to which it is entitled to due to its strategic position. This process will be in accordance with the Law on Regional Development which identi�es Niš as the center of South Serbia", said Mayor Simonović.

LAW ON REGIONAL DEVELOPMENTDRAFT PRESENTED

On the occasion of the draft law presentation, the Republic of Serbia Minister for economy and regional development, Mladjan Dinkić, said that the law envisaged the division of Serbia into seven regions so that the state itself and EU as well could invest more into poorly developed regions of the country.

According to the present draft, the City of Niš will be the center of Southern region which will cover the Nišavski, Jablanički, Pčinjski and Toplički districts. Mayor Simonović said that the City of Niš expected much from the Law on Regional Development because the Law positioned Niš City as the regional

center which will guide the development of numerous local communities. "Presently Serbia is asymmetrical in its organization due to the lack of middle level governance on the whole territory of Serbia and that is why the law adoption and application are important", pointed out Mayor Simonović. "It is up to us to de�ne regional interests and, after the law adoption, to develop international cooperation and to apply for the EU funds using institutional frameworks", said Mayor Simonović at the promotion of the Law on Regional Development Draft in Niš.

Law on Regional Development Draft whose adoption is expected this year was presented to Niš public.

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LAND MANAGEMENT AND ADMINISTRATION MODERNISATION PROJECT PRESENTED

Newsletter: No. 2 - February 2009www.ni.rs

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This project is being implemented by the City of Niš with the support of USAID programme MEGA and it is the part of the wider project of the local self government property asset management. The objective of this project is creation of the database of land sites to which the City is entitled and which would serve the city for systematic and planned management of the land sites with the �nal aim of encouraging economic development. The particular project objectives are: the change in approach to property asset management, improvement of land property management and administration, local economic development promotion and investment climate advancement.

The City of Niš identi�ed the land property asset as the most valuable resource. That is why this project is of utmost importance having in mind the expected passing of Law on Public Property. Leasing the land sites and other public property to potential investors will directly contribute to local economic development and to the achievement of the city strategic objectives. This project implies the change in the approach of the relevant local administration departments to

land property management. The very method of leasing the land will be changed to �t the better legal and urban planning preparation of the land property location. The marketing of property location should be improved. The database of the public land properties to which the city is entitled will be created. The procedure for the obtaining the construction permit will be simpli�ed. The implementation of this project does not aim to enable selling the land properties at high prices generating short term income. It aims at using this valuable resource as the function of local economic development. The land site in Donje Medjurovo will be treated as pilot project. The feasibility study on the best urban planning usage will be done for this location. The City Administration Department for property assets will undertake all the necessary steps to prepare this location for the auction. Presently the city regulations on leasing the city land sites, on constructions on city land sites and on fees for using city land sites are being modi�ed. The auction for pilot land site is expected to be held by June 2009. The expected project results are the creation of uniformed database on city land sites which will be updated on regular basis and which will be available to everyone, making available the unused public land sites, the improvement of the procedure and the methods of leasing land sites, improvement of the procedure for construction permit obtaining and improvement of the city investment climate and local economic development.

Niš City Mayor, Miloš Simonović, presented the Project of Niš City Land Management and Administration Modernisation at Niš City Hall.

In relation to Niška Banja municipality president's announcement that he will hold referendum for separation of the municipality from the City, Mayor of Niš, Mr. Miloš Simonović, has reminded that this kind of citizens' declaration requires prior legal procedure with which the initiator did not acquaint the municipality inhabitants. "According to the legal procedure for holding of referendum for the separation of Niška Banja municipality, it is necessary to obtain the signatures of 10% of Niš electoral body, i.e. around 30.000,00 signatures," explained Mayor Simonović. Besides that, it is necessary to develop and submit the elaborate on justi�cation of the initiative for Niška Banja separation. He said that the explanation or analysis of the facts justifying the above mentioned initiative had not arrived up to now. Niš City Mayor, Mr. Miloš Simonović, considers that announcing the initiative on separation of Niška Banja was an act of personal promotion and it is not supported by citizens. "The previous experience has shown that taking care of the city under the motto "let me work" brought nothing good to Niš citizens", reminded Mayor Simonović and he sent the message to local politician and city o�cials to get more involved in the working process without so much demagogy. The city will apply only unique policy for the development of all �ve city municipalities.

UNIQUE DEVELOPMENT POLICY FOR ALL CITY MUNICIPALITIES

www.ni.rs

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STATUTE OF VOJVODINA PROPOSAL PRESENTED IN NIŠ The Mayor of Niš City, Mr. Miloš Simonović, received the Serbian Parliament delegation and the delegation of the Vojvodina Parliament headed by the president of Serbian Parliament Mrs. Slavica Djukić Dejanović and the president of Vojvodina Parliament, Mr. Šandor Egereši.

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They discussed the new Statute of Vojvodina proposal. Mayor Simonović, together with National Parliament members from Niš and with the representatives of Niš City, discussed with Mrs. Djukić Dejanović and Mr. Egereši, about the importance of new Statute for Autonomous Province of Vojvodina as well as the importance of further Serbia regionalization. Since the meeting was attended only by the National Parliament members from governing coalition, the Mayor Simonović expressed his regret that the opposition National Parliament members did not accept the invitation to discuss the proposal for new Vojvodina Statute. The open dialogue about this important document with the representatives of

National Parliament and Vojvodina Parliament was good opportunity for National Parliament members from Niš and Niš City representatives to present their suggestions and comments and make clear all the ambiguities related to new Statute proposal. "One of the basic tasks of the Niš region is to de�ne the regional interests and to create institutional frameworks for the development of the international cooperation after the adoption of the Law on Equal Regional Development", said Mayor Simonović. This visit to the City of Niš represents the continuation of the presentation of the New Vojvodina Statute to local administrations on the Serbian territory with the aim to present this document as accurately as possible.

Niš City Mayor, Mr. Miloš Simonović, held the meeting with Niš City Assembly president, the heads of Niš City Parliamentary groups, the presidents of the city parliamentary party boards and National Parliament members from Niš at Niš City Hall. Forming unique city policy towards Republican Government, ministries and respective institutions was discussed at the meeting. It was agreed to initiate procedure for constituting the Council for City Development. It was also agreed to pass the Decision by City Council on forming Business Economic Council on the city level whose primary role would be to follow the economic situation in the city with regard to the regional consequences of the global economic crisis.

City authorities agreed to focus future Niš City Parliament session on particular topics and to make decisions by reaching consensus since they will be deciding about the issues of vital signi�cance for the functioning of the city itself and the citizens as well. It was also agreed that the meetings between the Mayor and Niš City Assembly president with the heads of Niš City Parliamentary groups and the presidents of the City Parliamentary party boards and National Parliament members from Niš would be regular activity and would be held once a month.

UNIQUE CITY POLICY TOWARDS REPUBLICAN GOVERNMENT

NIŠ – STATE CULTURAL CENTER

The Ministry of Culture State Secretary, Mr. Nadica Momirov, visited the Niš City Mayor, Mr. Miloš Simonović. On this occasion Mrs. Momirov informed Mayor Simonović that Ministry of Culture allocated 51 million dinars for the beginning of the special protective construction over the archeological site Medijana.

Mayor Simonović informed the State Secretary Mrs. Momirov about the city preparation for the celebration of Edict of Milan signing anniversary. Huge campaign led by the city is planned for the year 2013, the year when 1700th anniversary of recognizing the Christianity will be celebrated.

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NIŠ UNDER SNOWNiš City Mayor Miloš Simonović summoned the members of the City Team for Crisis Management: Blagoje Bradić, City Councilor, Dragan Jovanović, Niš City Parliament secretary, Žarko Damjanović, the head of Ministry of Defense Center for Civil Protection and Zoran Stojanović, and the head of the Niš Police Station.

The ward of the city emergency department was opened in the city municipality Niška Banja.

CITY EMERGENCY DEPARTMENT WARD OPENED IN THE CITY MUNICIPALITY NIŠKA BANJA

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Since the heavy snow during the previous night blocked the tra�c in the area of city entrances from the motorways of the Corridor 10, the City Team for Crisis Management analysed the situation on the motorways to Skoplje and Dimitrovgrad. Besides bad weather conditions, the tra�c collapse was caused by late intervention of republic public services in charge for maintaining the roads on the territory of Serbia. Niš City Mayor visited the blocked city entrances. He said that only the special police forces were at the sights. There were no other teams from the services under whose jurisdiction the maintenance of the

road is. The police forces helped to evacuate the drivers and passengers from the buses and trucks stuck in now. Upon the intervention from the Mayor, the food was delivered to the people who were forced to stay at the motorways due to bad weather conditions. City Crisis Management Team concluded at its meeting that Niš Winter Maintenance Services reacted adequately to bad weather conditions. There were some problem with the supplies of electric energy which occurred due o the overload of the system network but the maintenance teams were making all possible e�orts to stabilize the situation.

16.000 citizens of Niška Banja municipality will use the services of the emergency departments. This newly opened emergency ward represents the achievement of one more objective within the scope local primary care policy with the aim of bringing closer local primary care services to the citizens. The ward and its teams will be on call 24 hours a day. Niš City Mayor, Mr. Simonović, announced that the city would apply for the funds from KFW German Development Bank Programme and

those funds would be intended for the opening and equipping of new health care department in the municipality of Niška Banja.

The 67th Anniversary of Nazi German Concentration Camp "Crveni Krst" break-through was marked by placing the �ower wreaths and holding the memorial service. The event was attended by former prisoners, Niš Eparchy priesthood, representatives of the city soldiers associations, scouts and local self government representatives. The concentration camp "12.februar" (Crveni Krst) is one of few preserved fascist camps in Europe, which authentically testi�es on su�ering of Niš and South East Serbia people in the Second World War. The camp was formed by Germans in September 1941 and around 30.000 people were imprisoned in it. There was a dramatic prison breakout on February 12th, 1942. 147 armless people guided by the wish for freedom attacked the guards and 105 of them succeeded to run away.

THE ANIVERSARY OF BREAKOUT FROM CRVENI KRST CONCENTRATION CAMP

The Commission for encouraging talented pupils and students chose the candidates for city scholarships for the year 2009. The Commission approved the scholarships for 246 candidates who completed the public announcement criteria. 133 students, 35 secondary school pupils and 78 sportsmen were awarded the city scholarships.

CITY SCHOOLARSHIPS FOR TALENTED PUPILS AND STUDENTS

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Mayor Miloš Simonović and city councilors Blagoje Bradić and Žarko Ranković visited the Center for In Vitro Fertilization of Gynecology Clinic, Maternity Department of the Clinical Center Niš.

MORE FINANCIAL MEANS AND BETTER CONDITIONS FOR MARRIED COUPLES WITHOUT CHILDREN

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On that occasion Mayor and the city councilors recon�rmed the intention of the City to help married couples who cannot get children in natural way. Arti�cial insemination has not been applied in Niš up to now, neither in public nor in private medical institutions. Women from Niš and South East Serbia will not have to travel any more to Novi Sad or Belgrade in order to subject to in vitro fertilization. Respecting the fact that more and more couples cannot conceive a child in natural way, the city authorities decided to o�er less strict criteria compared to state level criteria for in vitro fertilization �nancing from the city budget. The City does not limit eligibility of married couples by age and it enables them to choose themselves the medical institution which will do the treatment. Families whose quaternary income does not exceed 4 average net salaries in Niš have right to 100% costs remuneration. The couples whose incomes exceed 4

average net salaries can get 50% costs remuneration from the city budget. Since 2006, The City of Niš has allocated the means from the city budget for in vitro fertilization program �nancing. In 2007 80 babies, conceived by this procedure, were born in Niš and in 2008 87 couples asked for �nancial help from the city. At the moment 20 couples for whom in vitro fertilization is the only way to get children are waiting for the approval to use funds from this program. According to the words of Dejan Mitić, the head of the Center for in vitro fertilization in Niš, 12 women completed the process in the past few months and 80 women from Niš and the surroundings are on the waiting list. Niš is one of rare cities in the country which allocates money from the city budget for this purpose. In this year 10 million dinars will be allocated for the support of in vitro fertilization, which is 4 million more compared to the previous year.

The Center for Medical Waste Treatment was opened in the village Trupale near Niš City. The opening ceremony was attended by Niš City Mayor Mr. Miloš Simonović, the Ministry of Health State Secretary Mrs. Nevena Karanović, the Niš Health Care Center management and the representatives of city public utility companies. This is the �rst such center in this part of the country where the medical waste from ten di�erent primary health care institutions will be sterilized. That means that infectious waste will be sterilized before being disposed at the land�ll. The opening of this kind of facility proves that the City is determined to solve the problem of communal waste. The building of the medical waste treatment center is a step forward to getting closer to EU standards and it contributes to establishing ecological environment in the area of Niš City and Niš region. The Ministry of Health State Secretary, Mrs. Nevena Karanović, said that it was planned to build six facilities for medical waste treatment on the territory of Serbia whose total value was 7,2 million euros. Trupale Center required 80.000,00 euros and the money was invested in construction works, equipment and special vehicle for collecting and disposal of the medical waste. This project of constructing and equipping the centers for medical waste treatment is realized by Ministry of Health in cooperation with Niš City and it is �nanced by European Agency for reconstruction and Development.

MEDICAL WASTE TREATMENT CENTER OPENED

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Newsletter: No. 2 - February 2009www.ni.rs

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Y In connection to the adoption of the Amendment to the Law on Excise, the Niš City Mayor, Mr. Miloš Simonovic, addressed the Republic of Serbia Minster of Finance, Mrs. Diana Dragutinović, in the letter where he stated: "Adopting the Amendment to the Law on Excise makes direct breach of the agreement envisaged by CEFTA Action Plan which was agreed between Republic of Serbia Government and the representatives of the tobacco industries. Modi�cations of the Law on Excise, which are referring to tobacco industry, are damaging to the region of whole Southern Serbia where two biggest cigarettes manufacturers function (Philip Morris and British American Tobacco). At the same time, the announced measures concerning tobacco industry, in the long run, would in�uence negatively the export of cigarettes into CEFTA countries, for the Philip Morris, which is the owner of the Tobacco Industry Niš, and for British American Tobacco which is the owner of Vranje Tobacco industry. During last �ve years, these renowned companies operating in the area of South Serbia invested more millions of dollars into our country and the investment announced for this year are put to question due to high excise. Having the above mentioned in mind, the City of Niš, the Nišava district and South Serbia could loose several thousands jobs thus endangering the lives of the potentially unemployed and their families. That is why I am addressing you so that you could �nd the solution for the problem which has been caused by adopting the Amendment of Law on Excise. If nothing is done, besides the destabilization of tobacco industry, the increase of the unemployment will occur, as well as the decrease of the budget income. The smuggling of cigarettes will increase. Bad message will be sent to the potential investors."

NIŠ CITY MAYOR ABOUT AMENDMENT TO LAW ON EXCISE

WEB SERVICE FOR TAX APPLICATION SUBMISSION OPENED

It means that, in the future, all tax payers can submit their tax application for all taxes which are under jurisdiction of local self government. At the home page of the o�cial web site for the application review and submission to tax administration there is tax application form for the property of individual and legal entities as well as the form for local communal taxes. The forms can be downloaded from the web site. The home page also contains the instructions for opening the user account for all the citizens which will use this internet application. With the aim of better informing the citizens, the home page of the tax application review and submission web site, contains the instructions with basic data about the easiest ways of

registering tax on property and the short description of the reasons why tax on property become local income. This web service is just one of the many internet services which will facilitate the citizens in ful�lling their legal obligations and which will reduce their expenses. Besides the advantages for the everyday life of our citizens, further improvement of the electronic government contributes signi�cantly to the economy competitiveness and increases the local administration level of e�ciency. In order to obtain data about tax on property payers on the territory of the Niš City and expansion of data base the City Council adopted the Conclusion on updating the database of communal services users which will be coordinated with tax payers' database.

The City of Niš opened the service for the review and submission of the tax applications via internet at the web site www.lpa.ni.rs

SURVEY ON NIŠ CITY ENTERPRISES AND ENTERPRENEURS

The City of Niš in cooperation with USAID's Municipal Economic Development Program, within the implementation of the building municipality capacities for local economic development (LED) is conducting the survey on the needs and attitudes of small and medium enterprises operating on the territory of the Niš City. The survey will cover

115 enterprises and entrepreneurs in order to obtain information about the city economy needs so that the projects which should be the part of Niš City Development Strategy could be identi�ed. The survey is conducted with the support of the Niš City Department for economy, planning and sustainable city development.

The O�ce for Local Economic Development was established within the implementation of USAID MEGA programme and it is supported �nancially and technically by LEDIB programme which is �nanced by Kingdom of Demark Ministry of Interior.

The ceremonial opening was attended by Miloš Simonovic, Niš City Mayor, Mladjan Dinkić, Republic of Serbia Minister for Economy and Regional Development, Verica Kalanović, Republic of Serbia Minister for National Investment

The o�ce for local economic development was opened in Niš yesterday. The o�ce was organised as a special unit within the Mayor's o�ce whose primary tasks are advancement of local economic development, the attraction of new investments, providing support to local business community, the promotion of entrepreneurship and the creation of the conditions for life quality improvements, for economic development of Niš City through initiating, managing, supervising and implementing the projects within the scope of local economic development.

In this Item:

O�ce For Local Economic Development Opened

City Development Plans Presented To State Leaders

Law On Regional Development Draft Presented

land Management And

Administration Modernisation Projec Presented

Unique Development Policy For All City Municipalities

Statute Of Vojvodina Proposal Presented In Niš

Niš – State Cultural Center

Unique City Policy Towards Republican Government

Niš Under Snow

City Emergency Department Ward Opened In The City Municipality

Niška Banja

The Aniversary Of Breako From Crveni Krst Concentration Camp

City Schoolarships For Talented Pupils And Students

More Financial Means And Better Conditions For Married Couples

Without Children

Medical Waste Treatment Center Opened

Web Service For Tax Application Submission Opened

Survey On Niš City Enterprises And Enterpreneurs

Niš City Mayor About Amendment To Law On Excise

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OFFICE FOR LOCAL ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT OPENED

www.ni.rs

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CITY DEVELOPMENT PLANS PRESENTED TO STATE LEADERS

Programme, James Stein, the director of USAID o�ce for economic development, Jorgen Andersen, minister councilor from Danish Ministry of Exterior and the representatives of USAID and LEDIB programmes.

With the objective of attracting new investments and extending local business activities, the O�ce for Local Economic Development will improve the cooperation between the institutions responsible for economic development and promote the business concept which will re�ect positively on local community. This o�ce will also create the database of available human resources and available land sites together with National Employment Service, local companies, new domestic and foreign investors.

Niš City Mayor Miloš Simonović, together with his associates, held the working meeting in Niš with the Republic of Serbia Minister for Economy and Regional Development, Mladjan Dinkić, and Republic of Serbia Minister for National Investment Programme, Verica Kalanović. On this occasion the Mayor presented the plans for the development of Niš as the center of South Serbia. Niš City Management presented the potentials of electronics industry as the generators of regional development and attraction of investments. Also the plans for big infrastructural projects for roads, railways, airport and Corridor 10 were presented. Having in mind

that the City of Niš is revising its development strategy, Mayor Simonović expressed his hope that the representatives of the Ministries will get involved in this process. "It is very important to use this development strategy revision process so that regional aspect of this document could be pointed out. This revision should be directed in the way which would enable the City of Niš, which is the third largest city in Serbia, to become the logistic center of this region to which it is entitled to due to its strategic position. This process will be in accordance with the Law on Regional Development which identi�es Niš as the center of South Serbia", said Mayor Simonović.

LAW ON REGIONAL DEVELOPMENTDRAFT PRESENTED

On the occasion of the draft law presentation, the Republic of Serbia Minister for economy and regional development, Mladjan Dinkić, said that the law envisaged the division of Serbia into seven regions so that the state itself and EU as well could invest more into poorly developed regions of the country.

According to the present draft, the City of Niš will be the center of Southern region which will cover the Nišavski, Jablanički, Pčinjski and Toplički districts. Mayor Simonović said that the City of Niš expected much from the Law on Regional Development because the Law positioned Niš City as the regional

center which will guide the development of numerous local communities. "Presently Serbia is asymmetrical in its organization due to the lack of middle level governance on the whole territory of Serbia and that is why the law adoption and application are important", pointed out Mayor Simonović. "It is up to us to de�ne regional interests and, after the law adoption, to develop international cooperation and to apply for the EU funds using institutional frameworks", said Mayor Simonović at the promotion of the Law on Regional Development Draft in Niš.

Law on Regional Development Draft whose adoption is expected this year was presented to Niš public.

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LAND MANAGEMENT AND ADMINISTRATION MODERNISATION PROJECT PRESENTED

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This project is being implemented by the City of Niš with the support of USAID programme MEGA and it is the part of the wider project of the local self government property asset management. The objective of this project is creation of the database of land sites to which the City is entitled and which would serve the city for systematic and planned management of the land sites with the �nal aim of encouraging economic development. The particular project objectives are: the change in approach to property asset management, improvement of land property management and administration, local economic development promotion and investment climate advancement.

The City of Niš identi�ed the land property asset as the most valuable resource. That is why this project is of utmost importance having in mind the expected passing of Law on Public Property. Leasing the land sites and other public property to potential investors will directly contribute to local economic development and to the achievement of the city strategic objectives. This project implies the change in the approach of the relevant local administration departments to

land property management. The very method of leasing the land will be changed to �t the better legal and urban planning preparation of the land property location. The marketing of property location should be improved. The database of the public land properties to which the city is entitled will be created. The procedure for the obtaining the construction permit will be simpli�ed. The implementation of this project does not aim to enable selling the land properties at high prices generating short term income. It aims at using this valuable resource as the function of local economic development. The land site in Donje Medjurovo will be treated as pilot project. The feasibility study on the best urban planning usage will be done for this location. The City Administration Department for property assets will undertake all the necessary steps to prepare this location for the auction. Presently the city regulations on leasing the city land sites, on constructions on city land sites and on fees for using city land sites are being modi�ed. The auction for pilot land site is expected to be held by June 2009. The expected project results are the creation of uniformed database on city land sites which will be updated on regular basis and which will be available to everyone, making available the unused public land sites, the improvement of the procedure and the methods of leasing land sites, improvement of the procedure for construction permit obtaining and improvement of the city investment climate and local economic development.

Niš City Mayor, Miloš Simonović, presented the Project of Niš City Land Management and Administration Modernisation at Niš City Hall.

In relation to Niška Banja municipality president's announcement that he will hold referendum for separation of the municipality from the City, Mayor of Niš, Mr. Miloš Simonović, has reminded that this kind of citizens' declaration requires prior legal procedure with which the initiator did not acquaint the municipality inhabitants. "According to the legal procedure for holding of referendum for the separation of Niška Banja municipality, it is necessary to obtain the signatures of 10% of Niš electoral body, i.e. around 30.000,00 signatures," explained Mayor Simonović. Besides that, it is necessary to develop and submit the elaborate on justi�cation of the initiative for Niška Banja separation. He said that the explanation or analysis of the facts justifying the above mentioned initiative had not arrived up to now. Niš City Mayor, Mr. Miloš Simonović, considers that announcing the initiative on separation of Niška Banja was an act of personal promotion and it is not supported by citizens. "The previous experience has shown that taking care of the city under the motto "let me work" brought nothing good to Niš citizens", reminded Mayor Simonović and he sent the message to local politician and city o�cials to get more involved in the working process without so much demagogy. The city will apply only unique policy for the development of all �ve city municipalities.

UNIQUE DEVELOPMENT POLICY FOR ALL CITY MUNICIPALITIES

www.ni.rs

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STATUTE OF VOJVODINA PROPOSAL PRESENTED IN NIŠ The Mayor of Niš City, Mr. Miloš Simonović, received the Serbian Parliament delegation and the delegation of the Vojvodina Parliament headed by the president of Serbian Parliament Mrs. Slavica Djukić Dejanović and the president of Vojvodina Parliament, Mr. Šandor Egereši.

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They discussed the new Statute of Vojvodina proposal. Mayor Simonović, together with National Parliament members from Niš and with the representatives of Niš City, discussed with Mrs. Djukić Dejanović and Mr. Egereši, about the importance of new Statute for Autonomous Province of Vojvodina as well as the importance of further Serbia regionalization. Since the meeting was attended only by the National Parliament members from governing coalition, the Mayor Simonović expressed his regret that the opposition National Parliament members did not accept the invitation to discuss the proposal for new Vojvodina Statute. The open dialogue about this important document with the representatives of

National Parliament and Vojvodina Parliament was good opportunity for National Parliament members from Niš and Niš City representatives to present their suggestions and comments and make clear all the ambiguities related to new Statute proposal. "One of the basic tasks of the Niš region is to de�ne the regional interests and to create institutional frameworks for the development of the international cooperation after the adoption of the Law on Equal Regional Development", said Mayor Simonović. This visit to the City of Niš represents the continuation of the presentation of the New Vojvodina Statute to local administrations on the Serbian territory with the aim to present this document as accurately as possible.

Niš City Mayor, Mr. Miloš Simonović, held the meeting with Niš City Assembly president, the heads of Niš City Parliamentary groups, the presidents of the city parliamentary party boards and National Parliament members from Niš at Niš City Hall. Forming unique city policy towards Republican Government, ministries and respective institutions was discussed at the meeting. It was agreed to initiate procedure for constituting the Council for City Development. It was also agreed to pass the Decision by City Council on forming Business Economic Council on the city level whose primary role would be to follow the economic situation in the city with regard to the regional consequences of the global economic crisis.

City authorities agreed to focus future Niš City Parliament session on particular topics and to make decisions by reaching consensus since they will be deciding about the issues of vital signi�cance for the functioning of the city itself and the citizens as well. It was also agreed that the meetings between the Mayor and Niš City Assembly president with the heads of Niš City Parliamentary groups and the presidents of the City Parliamentary party boards and National Parliament members from Niš would be regular activity and would be held once a month.

UNIQUE CITY POLICY TOWARDS REPUBLICAN GOVERNMENT

NIŠ – STATE CULTURAL CENTER

The Ministry of Culture State Secretary, Mr. Nadica Momirov, visited the Niš City Mayor, Mr. Miloš Simonović. On this occasion Mrs. Momirov informed Mayor Simonović that Ministry of Culture allocated 51 million dinars for the beginning of the special protective construction over the archeological site Medijana.

Mayor Simonović informed the State Secretary Mrs. Momirov about the city preparation for the celebration of Edict of Milan signing anniversary. Huge campaign led by the city is planned for the year 2013, the year when 1700th anniversary of recognizing the Christianity will be celebrated.

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NIŠ UNDER SNOWNiš City Mayor Miloš Simonović summoned the members of the City Team for Crisis Management: Blagoje Bradić, City Councilor, Dragan Jovanović, Niš City Parliament secretary, Žarko Damjanović, the head of Ministry of Defense Center for Civil Protection and Zoran Stojanović, and the head of the Niš Police Station.

The ward of the city emergency department was opened in the city municipality Niška Banja.

CITY EMERGENCY DEPARTMENT WARD OPENED IN THE CITY MUNICIPALITY NIŠKA BANJA

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Since the heavy snow during the previous night blocked the tra�c in the area of city entrances from the motorways of the Corridor 10, the City Team for Crisis Management analysed the situation on the motorways to Skoplje and Dimitrovgrad. Besides bad weather conditions, the tra�c collapse was caused by late intervention of republic public services in charge for maintaining the roads on the territory of Serbia. Niš City Mayor visited the blocked city entrances. He said that only the special police forces were at the sights. There were no other teams from the services under whose jurisdiction the maintenance of the

road is. The police forces helped to evacuate the drivers and passengers from the buses and trucks stuck in now. Upon the intervention from the Mayor, the food was delivered to the people who were forced to stay at the motorways due to bad weather conditions. City Crisis Management Team concluded at its meeting that Niš Winter Maintenance Services reacted adequately to bad weather conditions. There were some problem with the supplies of electric energy which occurred due o the overload of the system network but the maintenance teams were making all possible e�orts to stabilize the situation.

16.000 citizens of Niška Banja municipality will use the services of the emergency departments. This newly opened emergency ward represents the achievement of one more objective within the scope local primary care policy with the aim of bringing closer local primary care services to the citizens. The ward and its teams will be on call 24 hours a day. Niš City Mayor, Mr. Simonović, announced that the city would apply for the funds from KFW German Development Bank Programme and

those funds would be intended for the opening and equipping of new health care department in the municipality of Niška Banja.

The 67th Anniversary of Nazi German Concentration Camp "Crveni Krst" break-through was marked by placing the �ower wreaths and holding the memorial service. The event was attended by former prisoners, Niš Eparchy priesthood, representatives of the city soldiers associations, scouts and local self government representatives. The concentration camp "12.februar" (Crveni Krst) is one of few preserved fascist camps in Europe, which authentically testi�es on su�ering of Niš and South East Serbia people in the Second World War. The camp was formed by Germans in September 1941 and around 30.000 people were imprisoned in it. There was a dramatic prison breakout on February 12th, 1942. 147 armless people guided by the wish for freedom attacked the guards and 105 of them succeeded to run away.

THE ANIVERSARY OF BREAKOUT FROM CRVENI KRST CONCENTRATION CAMP

The Commission for encouraging talented pupils and students chose the candidates for city scholarships for the year 2009. The Commission approved the scholarships for 246 candidates who completed the public announcement criteria. 133 students, 35 secondary school pupils and 78 sportsmen were awarded the city scholarships.

CITY SCHOOLARSHIPS FOR TALENTED PUPILS AND STUDENTS

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Mayor Miloš Simonović and city councilors Blagoje Bradić and Žarko Ranković visited the Center for In Vitro Fertilization of Gynecology Clinic, Maternity Department of the Clinical Center Niš.

MORE FINANCIAL MEANS AND BETTER CONDITIONS FOR MARRIED COUPLES WITHOUT CHILDREN

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On that occasion Mayor and the city councilors recon�rmed the intention of the City to help married couples who cannot get children in natural way. Arti�cial insemination has not been applied in Niš up to now, neither in public nor in private medical institutions. Women from Niš and South East Serbia will not have to travel any more to Novi Sad or Belgrade in order to subject to in vitro fertilization. Respecting the fact that more and more couples cannot conceive a child in natural way, the city authorities decided to o�er less strict criteria compared to state level criteria for in vitro fertilization �nancing from the city budget. The City does not limit eligibility of married couples by age and it enables them to choose themselves the medical institution which will do the treatment. Families whose quaternary income does not exceed 4 average net salaries in Niš have right to 100% costs remuneration. The couples whose incomes exceed 4

average net salaries can get 50% costs remuneration from the city budget. Since 2006, The City of Niš has allocated the means from the city budget for in vitro fertilization program �nancing. In 2007 80 babies, conceived by this procedure, were born in Niš and in 2008 87 couples asked for �nancial help from the city. At the moment 20 couples for whom in vitro fertilization is the only way to get children are waiting for the approval to use funds from this program. According to the words of Dejan Mitić, the head of the Center for in vitro fertilization in Niš, 12 women completed the process in the past few months and 80 women from Niš and the surroundings are on the waiting list. Niš is one of rare cities in the country which allocates money from the city budget for this purpose. In this year 10 million dinars will be allocated for the support of in vitro fertilization, which is 4 million more compared to the previous year.

The Center for Medical Waste Treatment was opened in the village Trupale near Niš City. The opening ceremony was attended by Niš City Mayor Mr. Miloš Simonović, the Ministry of Health State Secretary Mrs. Nevena Karanović, the Niš Health Care Center management and the representatives of city public utility companies. This is the �rst such center in this part of the country where the medical waste from ten di�erent primary health care institutions will be sterilized. That means that infectious waste will be sterilized before being disposed at the land�ll. The opening of this kind of facility proves that the City is determined to solve the problem of communal waste. The building of the medical waste treatment center is a step forward to getting closer to EU standards and it contributes to establishing ecological environment in the area of Niš City and Niš region. The Ministry of Health State Secretary, Mrs. Nevena Karanović, said that it was planned to build six facilities for medical waste treatment on the territory of Serbia whose total value was 7,2 million euros. Trupale Center required 80.000,00 euros and the money was invested in construction works, equipment and special vehicle for collecting and disposal of the medical waste. This project of constructing and equipping the centers for medical waste treatment is realized by Ministry of Health in cooperation with Niš City and it is �nanced by European Agency for reconstruction and Development.

MEDICAL WASTE TREATMENT CENTER OPENED

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Newsletter: No. 2 - February 2009www.ni.rs

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Y In connection to the adoption of the Amendment to the Law on Excise, the Niš City Mayor, Mr. Miloš Simonovic, addressed the Republic of Serbia Minster of Finance, Mrs. Diana Dragutinović, in the letter where he stated: "Adopting the Amendment to the Law on Excise makes direct breach of the agreement envisaged by CEFTA Action Plan which was agreed between Republic of Serbia Government and the representatives of the tobacco industries. Modi�cations of the Law on Excise, which are referring to tobacco industry, are damaging to the region of whole Southern Serbia where two biggest cigarettes manufacturers function (Philip Morris and British American Tobacco). At the same time, the announced measures concerning tobacco industry, in the long run, would in�uence negatively the export of cigarettes into CEFTA countries, for the Philip Morris, which is the owner of the Tobacco Industry Niš, and for British American Tobacco which is the owner of Vranje Tobacco industry. During last �ve years, these renowned companies operating in the area of South Serbia invested more millions of dollars into our country and the investment announced for this year are put to question due to high excise. Having the above mentioned in mind, the City of Niš, the Nišava district and South Serbia could loose several thousands jobs thus endangering the lives of the potentially unemployed and their families. That is why I am addressing you so that you could �nd the solution for the problem which has been caused by adopting the Amendment of Law on Excise. If nothing is done, besides the destabilization of tobacco industry, the increase of the unemployment will occur, as well as the decrease of the budget income. The smuggling of cigarettes will increase. Bad message will be sent to the potential investors."

NIŠ CITY MAYOR ABOUT AMENDMENT TO LAW ON EXCISE

WEB SERVICE FOR TAX APPLICATION SUBMISSION OPENED

It means that, in the future, all tax payers can submit their tax application for all taxes which are under jurisdiction of local self government. At the home page of the o�cial web site for the application review and submission to tax administration there is tax application form for the property of individual and legal entities as well as the form for local communal taxes. The forms can be downloaded from the web site. The home page also contains the instructions for opening the user account for all the citizens which will use this internet application. With the aim of better informing the citizens, the home page of the tax application review and submission web site, contains the instructions with basic data about the easiest ways of

registering tax on property and the short description of the reasons why tax on property become local income. This web service is just one of the many internet services which will facilitate the citizens in ful�lling their legal obligations and which will reduce their expenses. Besides the advantages for the everyday life of our citizens, further improvement of the electronic government contributes signi�cantly to the economy competitiveness and increases the local administration level of e�ciency. In order to obtain data about tax on property payers on the territory of the Niš City and expansion of data base the City Council adopted the Conclusion on updating the database of communal services users which will be coordinated with tax payers' database.

The City of Niš opened the service for the review and submission of the tax applications via internet at the web site www.lpa.ni.rs

SURVEY ON NIŠ CITY ENTERPRISES AND ENTERPRENEURS

The City of Niš in cooperation with USAID's Municipal Economic Development Program, within the implementation of the building municipality capacities for local economic development (LED) is conducting the survey on the needs and attitudes of small and medium enterprises operating on the territory of the Niš City. The survey will cover

115 enterprises and entrepreneurs in order to obtain information about the city economy needs so that the projects which should be the part of Niš City Development Strategy could be identi�ed. The survey is conducted with the support of the Niš City Department for economy, planning and sustainable city development.

The O�ce for Local Economic Development was established within the implementation of USAID MEGA programme and it is supported �nancially and technically by LEDIB programme which is �nanced by Kingdom of Demark Ministry of Interior.

The ceremonial opening was attended by Miloš Simonovic, Niš City Mayor, Mladjan Dinkić, Republic of Serbia Minister for Economy and Regional Development, Verica Kalanović, Republic of Serbia Minister for National Investment

The o�ce for local economic development was opened in Niš yesterday. The o�ce was organised as a special unit within the Mayor's o�ce whose primary tasks are advancement of local economic development, the attraction of new investments, providing support to local business community, the promotion of entrepreneurship and the creation of the conditions for life quality improvements, for economic development of Niš City through initiating, managing, supervising and implementing the projects within the scope of local economic development.

In this Item:

O�ce For Local Economic Development Opened

City Development Plans Presented To State Leaders

Law On Regional Development Draft Presented

land Management And

Administration Modernisation Projec Presented

Unique Development Policy For All City Municipalities

Statute Of Vojvodina Proposal Presented In Niš

Niš – State Cultural Center

Unique City Policy Towards Republican Government

Niš Under Snow

City Emergency Department Ward Opened In The City Municipality

Niška Banja

The Aniversary Of Breako From Crveni Krst Concentration Camp

City Schoolarships For Talented Pupils And Students

More Financial Means And Better Conditions For Married Couples

Without Children

Medical Waste Treatment Center Opened

Web Service For Tax Application Submission Opened

Survey On Niš City Enterprises And Enterpreneurs

Niš City Mayor About Amendment To Law On Excise

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OFFICE FOR LOCAL ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT OPENED

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CITY DEVELOPMENT PLANS PRESENTED TO STATE LEADERS

Programme, James Stein, the director of USAID o�ce for economic development, Jorgen Andersen, minister councilor from Danish Ministry of Exterior and the representatives of USAID and LEDIB programmes.

With the objective of attracting new investments and extending local business activities, the O�ce for Local Economic Development will improve the cooperation between the institutions responsible for economic development and promote the business concept which will re�ect positively on local community. This o�ce will also create the database of available human resources and available land sites together with National Employment Service, local companies, new domestic and foreign investors.

Niš City Mayor Miloš Simonović, together with his associates, held the working meeting in Niš with the Republic of Serbia Minister for Economy and Regional Development, Mladjan Dinkić, and Republic of Serbia Minister for National Investment Programme, Verica Kalanović. On this occasion the Mayor presented the plans for the development of Niš as the center of South Serbia. Niš City Management presented the potentials of electronics industry as the generators of regional development and attraction of investments. Also the plans for big infrastructural projects for roads, railways, airport and Corridor 10 were presented. Having in mind

that the City of Niš is revising its development strategy, Mayor Simonović expressed his hope that the representatives of the Ministries will get involved in this process. "It is very important to use this development strategy revision process so that regional aspect of this document could be pointed out. This revision should be directed in the way which would enable the City of Niš, which is the third largest city in Serbia, to become the logistic center of this region to which it is entitled to due to its strategic position. This process will be in accordance with the Law on Regional Development which identi�es Niš as the center of South Serbia", said Mayor Simonović.

LAW ON REGIONAL DEVELOPMENTDRAFT PRESENTED

On the occasion of the draft law presentation, the Republic of Serbia Minister for economy and regional development, Mladjan Dinkić, said that the law envisaged the division of Serbia into seven regions so that the state itself and EU as well could invest more into poorly developed regions of the country.

According to the present draft, the City of Niš will be the center of Southern region which will cover the Nišavski, Jablanički, Pčinjski and Toplički districts. Mayor Simonović said that the City of Niš expected much from the Law on Regional Development because the Law positioned Niš City as the regional

center which will guide the development of numerous local communities. "Presently Serbia is asymmetrical in its organization due to the lack of middle level governance on the whole territory of Serbia and that is why the law adoption and application are important", pointed out Mayor Simonović. "It is up to us to de�ne regional interests and, after the law adoption, to develop international cooperation and to apply for the EU funds using institutional frameworks", said Mayor Simonović at the promotion of the Law on Regional Development Draft in Niš.

Law on Regional Development Draft whose adoption is expected this year was presented to Niš public.

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LAND MANAGEMENT AND ADMINISTRATION MODERNISATION PROJECT PRESENTED

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This project is being implemented by the City of Niš with the support of USAID programme MEGA and it is the part of the wider project of the local self government property asset management. The objective of this project is creation of the database of land sites to which the City is entitled and which would serve the city for systematic and planned management of the land sites with the �nal aim of encouraging economic development. The particular project objectives are: the change in approach to property asset management, improvement of land property management and administration, local economic development promotion and investment climate advancement.

The City of Niš identi�ed the land property asset as the most valuable resource. That is why this project is of utmost importance having in mind the expected passing of Law on Public Property. Leasing the land sites and other public property to potential investors will directly contribute to local economic development and to the achievement of the city strategic objectives. This project implies the change in the approach of the relevant local administration departments to

land property management. The very method of leasing the land will be changed to �t the better legal and urban planning preparation of the land property location. The marketing of property location should be improved. The database of the public land properties to which the city is entitled will be created. The procedure for the obtaining the construction permit will be simpli�ed. The implementation of this project does not aim to enable selling the land properties at high prices generating short term income. It aims at using this valuable resource as the function of local economic development. The land site in Donje Medjurovo will be treated as pilot project. The feasibility study on the best urban planning usage will be done for this location. The City Administration Department for property assets will undertake all the necessary steps to prepare this location for the auction. Presently the city regulations on leasing the city land sites, on constructions on city land sites and on fees for using city land sites are being modi�ed. The auction for pilot land site is expected to be held by June 2009. The expected project results are the creation of uniformed database on city land sites which will be updated on regular basis and which will be available to everyone, making available the unused public land sites, the improvement of the procedure and the methods of leasing land sites, improvement of the procedure for construction permit obtaining and improvement of the city investment climate and local economic development.

Niš City Mayor, Miloš Simonović, presented the Project of Niš City Land Management and Administration Modernisation at Niš City Hall.

In relation to Niška Banja municipality president's announcement that he will hold referendum for separation of the municipality from the City, Mayor of Niš, Mr. Miloš Simonović, has reminded that this kind of citizens' declaration requires prior legal procedure with which the initiator did not acquaint the municipality inhabitants. "According to the legal procedure for holding of referendum for the separation of Niška Banja municipality, it is necessary to obtain the signatures of 10% of Niš electoral body, i.e. around 30.000,00 signatures," explained Mayor Simonović. Besides that, it is necessary to develop and submit the elaborate on justi�cation of the initiative for Niška Banja separation. He said that the explanation or analysis of the facts justifying the above mentioned initiative had not arrived up to now. Niš City Mayor, Mr. Miloš Simonović, considers that announcing the initiative on separation of Niška Banja was an act of personal promotion and it is not supported by citizens. "The previous experience has shown that taking care of the city under the motto "let me work" brought nothing good to Niš citizens", reminded Mayor Simonović and he sent the message to local politician and city o�cials to get more involved in the working process without so much demagogy. The city will apply only unique policy for the development of all �ve city municipalities.

UNIQUE DEVELOPMENT POLICY FOR ALL CITY MUNICIPALITIES

www.ni.rs

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STATUTE OF VOJVODINA PROPOSAL PRESENTED IN NIŠ The Mayor of Niš City, Mr. Miloš Simonović, received the Serbian Parliament delegation and the delegation of the Vojvodina Parliament headed by the president of Serbian Parliament Mrs. Slavica Djukić Dejanović and the president of Vojvodina Parliament, Mr. Šandor Egereši.

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They discussed the new Statute of Vojvodina proposal. Mayor Simonović, together with National Parliament members from Niš and with the representatives of Niš City, discussed with Mrs. Djukić Dejanović and Mr. Egereši, about the importance of new Statute for Autonomous Province of Vojvodina as well as the importance of further Serbia regionalization. Since the meeting was attended only by the National Parliament members from governing coalition, the Mayor Simonović expressed his regret that the opposition National Parliament members did not accept the invitation to discuss the proposal for new Vojvodina Statute. The open dialogue about this important document with the representatives of

National Parliament and Vojvodina Parliament was good opportunity for National Parliament members from Niš and Niš City representatives to present their suggestions and comments and make clear all the ambiguities related to new Statute proposal. "One of the basic tasks of the Niš region is to de�ne the regional interests and to create institutional frameworks for the development of the international cooperation after the adoption of the Law on Equal Regional Development", said Mayor Simonović. This visit to the City of Niš represents the continuation of the presentation of the New Vojvodina Statute to local administrations on the Serbian territory with the aim to present this document as accurately as possible.

Niš City Mayor, Mr. Miloš Simonović, held the meeting with Niš City Assembly president, the heads of Niš City Parliamentary groups, the presidents of the city parliamentary party boards and National Parliament members from Niš at Niš City Hall. Forming unique city policy towards Republican Government, ministries and respective institutions was discussed at the meeting. It was agreed to initiate procedure for constituting the Council for City Development. It was also agreed to pass the Decision by City Council on forming Business Economic Council on the city level whose primary role would be to follow the economic situation in the city with regard to the regional consequences of the global economic crisis.

City authorities agreed to focus future Niš City Parliament session on particular topics and to make decisions by reaching consensus since they will be deciding about the issues of vital signi�cance for the functioning of the city itself and the citizens as well. It was also agreed that the meetings between the Mayor and Niš City Assembly president with the heads of Niš City Parliamentary groups and the presidents of the City Parliamentary party boards and National Parliament members from Niš would be regular activity and would be held once a month.

UNIQUE CITY POLICY TOWARDS REPUBLICAN GOVERNMENT

NIŠ – STATE CULTURAL CENTER

The Ministry of Culture State Secretary, Mr. Nadica Momirov, visited the Niš City Mayor, Mr. Miloš Simonović. On this occasion Mrs. Momirov informed Mayor Simonović that Ministry of Culture allocated 51 million dinars for the beginning of the special protective construction over the archeological site Medijana.

Mayor Simonović informed the State Secretary Mrs. Momirov about the city preparation for the celebration of Edict of Milan signing anniversary. Huge campaign led by the city is planned for the year 2013, the year when 1700th anniversary of recognizing the Christianity will be celebrated.

5

NIŠ UNDER SNOWNiš City Mayor Miloš Simonović summoned the members of the City Team for Crisis Management: Blagoje Bradić, City Councilor, Dragan Jovanović, Niš City Parliament secretary, Žarko Damjanović, the head of Ministry of Defense Center for Civil Protection and Zoran Stojanović, and the head of the Niš Police Station.

The ward of the city emergency department was opened in the city municipality Niška Banja.

CITY EMERGENCY DEPARTMENT WARD OPENED IN THE CITY MUNICIPALITY NIŠKA BANJA

Newsletter: No. 2 - February 2009www.ni.rs

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Since the heavy snow during the previous night blocked the tra�c in the area of city entrances from the motorways of the Corridor 10, the City Team for Crisis Management analysed the situation on the motorways to Skoplje and Dimitrovgrad. Besides bad weather conditions, the tra�c collapse was caused by late intervention of republic public services in charge for maintaining the roads on the territory of Serbia. Niš City Mayor visited the blocked city entrances. He said that only the special police forces were at the sights. There were no other teams from the services under whose jurisdiction the maintenance of the

road is. The police forces helped to evacuate the drivers and passengers from the buses and trucks stuck in now. Upon the intervention from the Mayor, the food was delivered to the people who were forced to stay at the motorways due to bad weather conditions. City Crisis Management Team concluded at its meeting that Niš Winter Maintenance Services reacted adequately to bad weather conditions. There were some problem with the supplies of electric energy which occurred due o the overload of the system network but the maintenance teams were making all possible e�orts to stabilize the situation.

16.000 citizens of Niška Banja municipality will use the services of the emergency departments. This newly opened emergency ward represents the achievement of one more objective within the scope local primary care policy with the aim of bringing closer local primary care services to the citizens. The ward and its teams will be on call 24 hours a day. Niš City Mayor, Mr. Simonović, announced that the city would apply for the funds from KFW German Development Bank Programme and

those funds would be intended for the opening and equipping of new health care department in the municipality of Niška Banja.

The 67th Anniversary of Nazi German Concentration Camp "Crveni Krst" break-through was marked by placing the �ower wreaths and holding the memorial service. The event was attended by former prisoners, Niš Eparchy priesthood, representatives of the city soldiers associations, scouts and local self government representatives. The concentration camp "12.februar" (Crveni Krst) is one of few preserved fascist camps in Europe, which authentically testi�es on su�ering of Niš and South East Serbia people in the Second World War. The camp was formed by Germans in September 1941 and around 30.000 people were imprisoned in it. There was a dramatic prison breakout on February 12th, 1942. 147 armless people guided by the wish for freedom attacked the guards and 105 of them succeeded to run away.

THE ANIVERSARY OF BREAKOUT FROM CRVENI KRST CONCENTRATION CAMP

The Commission for encouraging talented pupils and students chose the candidates for city scholarships for the year 2009. The Commission approved the scholarships for 246 candidates who completed the public announcement criteria. 133 students, 35 secondary school pupils and 78 sportsmen were awarded the city scholarships.

CITY SCHOOLARSHIPS FOR TALENTED PUPILS AND STUDENTS

6

Mayor Miloš Simonović and city councilors Blagoje Bradić and Žarko Ranković visited the Center for In Vitro Fertilization of Gynecology Clinic, Maternity Department of the Clinical Center Niš.

MORE FINANCIAL MEANS AND BETTER CONDITIONS FOR MARRIED COUPLES WITHOUT CHILDREN

Newsletter: No. 2 - February 2009www.ni.rs

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On that occasion Mayor and the city councilors recon�rmed the intention of the City to help married couples who cannot get children in natural way. Arti�cial insemination has not been applied in Niš up to now, neither in public nor in private medical institutions. Women from Niš and South East Serbia will not have to travel any more to Novi Sad or Belgrade in order to subject to in vitro fertilization. Respecting the fact that more and more couples cannot conceive a child in natural way, the city authorities decided to o�er less strict criteria compared to state level criteria for in vitro fertilization �nancing from the city budget. The City does not limit eligibility of married couples by age and it enables them to choose themselves the medical institution which will do the treatment. Families whose quaternary income does not exceed 4 average net salaries in Niš have right to 100% costs remuneration. The couples whose incomes exceed 4

average net salaries can get 50% costs remuneration from the city budget. Since 2006, The City of Niš has allocated the means from the city budget for in vitro fertilization program �nancing. In 2007 80 babies, conceived by this procedure, were born in Niš and in 2008 87 couples asked for �nancial help from the city. At the moment 20 couples for whom in vitro fertilization is the only way to get children are waiting for the approval to use funds from this program. According to the words of Dejan Mitić, the head of the Center for in vitro fertilization in Niš, 12 women completed the process in the past few months and 80 women from Niš and the surroundings are on the waiting list. Niš is one of rare cities in the country which allocates money from the city budget for this purpose. In this year 10 million dinars will be allocated for the support of in vitro fertilization, which is 4 million more compared to the previous year.

The Center for Medical Waste Treatment was opened in the village Trupale near Niš City. The opening ceremony was attended by Niš City Mayor Mr. Miloš Simonović, the Ministry of Health State Secretary Mrs. Nevena Karanović, the Niš Health Care Center management and the representatives of city public utility companies. This is the �rst such center in this part of the country where the medical waste from ten di�erent primary health care institutions will be sterilized. That means that infectious waste will be sterilized before being disposed at the land�ll. The opening of this kind of facility proves that the City is determined to solve the problem of communal waste. The building of the medical waste treatment center is a step forward to getting closer to EU standards and it contributes to establishing ecological environment in the area of Niš City and Niš region. The Ministry of Health State Secretary, Mrs. Nevena Karanović, said that it was planned to build six facilities for medical waste treatment on the territory of Serbia whose total value was 7,2 million euros. Trupale Center required 80.000,00 euros and the money was invested in construction works, equipment and special vehicle for collecting and disposal of the medical waste. This project of constructing and equipping the centers for medical waste treatment is realized by Ministry of Health in cooperation with Niš City and it is �nanced by European Agency for reconstruction and Development.

MEDICAL WASTE TREATMENT CENTER OPENED

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Newsletter: No. 2 - February 2009www.ni.rs

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Y In connection to the adoption of the Amendment to the Law on Excise, the Niš City Mayor, Mr. Miloš Simonovic, addressed the Republic of Serbia Minster of Finance, Mrs. Diana Dragutinović, in the letter where he stated: "Adopting the Amendment to the Law on Excise makes direct breach of the agreement envisaged by CEFTA Action Plan which was agreed between Republic of Serbia Government and the representatives of the tobacco industries. Modi�cations of the Law on Excise, which are referring to tobacco industry, are damaging to the region of whole Southern Serbia where two biggest cigarettes manufacturers function (Philip Morris and British American Tobacco). At the same time, the announced measures concerning tobacco industry, in the long run, would in�uence negatively the export of cigarettes into CEFTA countries, for the Philip Morris, which is the owner of the Tobacco Industry Niš, and for British American Tobacco which is the owner of Vranje Tobacco industry. During last �ve years, these renowned companies operating in the area of South Serbia invested more millions of dollars into our country and the investment announced for this year are put to question due to high excise. Having the above mentioned in mind, the City of Niš, the Nišava district and South Serbia could loose several thousands jobs thus endangering the lives of the potentially unemployed and their families. That is why I am addressing you so that you could �nd the solution for the problem which has been caused by adopting the Amendment of Law on Excise. If nothing is done, besides the destabilization of tobacco industry, the increase of the unemployment will occur, as well as the decrease of the budget income. The smuggling of cigarettes will increase. Bad message will be sent to the potential investors."

NIŠ CITY MAYOR ABOUT AMENDMENT TO LAW ON EXCISE

WEB SERVICE FOR TAX APPLICATION SUBMISSION OPENED

It means that, in the future, all tax payers can submit their tax application for all taxes which are under jurisdiction of local self government. At the home page of the o�cial web site for the application review and submission to tax administration there is tax application form for the property of individual and legal entities as well as the form for local communal taxes. The forms can be downloaded from the web site. The home page also contains the instructions for opening the user account for all the citizens which will use this internet application. With the aim of better informing the citizens, the home page of the tax application review and submission web site, contains the instructions with basic data about the easiest ways of

registering tax on property and the short description of the reasons why tax on property become local income. This web service is just one of the many internet services which will facilitate the citizens in ful�lling their legal obligations and which will reduce their expenses. Besides the advantages for the everyday life of our citizens, further improvement of the electronic government contributes signi�cantly to the economy competitiveness and increases the local administration level of e�ciency. In order to obtain data about tax on property payers on the territory of the Niš City and expansion of data base the City Council adopted the Conclusion on updating the database of communal services users which will be coordinated with tax payers' database.

The City of Niš opened the service for the review and submission of the tax applications via internet at the web site www.lpa.ni.rs

SURVEY ON NIŠ CITY ENTERPRISES AND ENTERPRENEURS

The City of Niš in cooperation with USAID's Municipal Economic Development Program, within the implementation of the building municipality capacities for local economic development (LED) is conducting the survey on the needs and attitudes of small and medium enterprises operating on the territory of the Niš City. The survey will cover

115 enterprises and entrepreneurs in order to obtain information about the city economy needs so that the projects which should be the part of Niš City Development Strategy could be identi�ed. The survey is conducted with the support of the Niš City Department for economy, planning and sustainable city development.

The O�ce for Local Economic Development was established within the implementation of USAID MEGA programme and it is supported �nancially and technically by LEDIB programme which is �nanced by Kingdom of Demark Ministry of Interior.

The ceremonial opening was attended by Miloš Simonovic, Niš City Mayor, Mladjan Dinkić, Republic of Serbia Minister for Economy and Regional Development, Verica Kalanović, Republic of Serbia Minister for National Investment

The o�ce for local economic development was opened in Niš yesterday. The o�ce was organised as a special unit within the Mayor's o�ce whose primary tasks are advancement of local economic development, the attraction of new investments, providing support to local business community, the promotion of entrepreneurship and the creation of the conditions for life quality improvements, for economic development of Niš City through initiating, managing, supervising and implementing the projects within the scope of local economic development.

In this Item:

O�ce For Local Economic Development Opened

City Development Plans Presented To State Leaders

Law On Regional Development Draft Presented

land Management And

Administration Modernisation Projec Presented

Unique Development Policy For All City Municipalities

Statute Of Vojvodina Proposal Presented In Niš

Niš – State Cultural Center

Unique City Policy Towards Republican Government

Niš Under Snow

City Emergency Department Ward Opened In The City Municipality

Niška Banja

The Aniversary Of Breako From Crveni Krst Concentration Camp

City Schoolarships For Talented Pupils And Students

More Financial Means And Better Conditions For Married Couples

Without Children

Medical Waste Treatment Center Opened

Web Service For Tax Application Submission Opened

Survey On Niš City Enterprises And Enterpreneurs

Niš City Mayor About Amendment To Law On Excise

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OFFICE FOR LOCAL ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT OPENED

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CITY DEVELOPMENT PLANS PRESENTED TO STATE LEADERS

Programme, James Stein, the director of USAID o�ce for economic development, Jorgen Andersen, minister councilor from Danish Ministry of Exterior and the representatives of USAID and LEDIB programmes.

With the objective of attracting new investments and extending local business activities, the O�ce for Local Economic Development will improve the cooperation between the institutions responsible for economic development and promote the business concept which will re�ect positively on local community. This o�ce will also create the database of available human resources and available land sites together with National Employment Service, local companies, new domestic and foreign investors.

Niš City Mayor Miloš Simonović, together with his associates, held the working meeting in Niš with the Republic of Serbia Minister for Economy and Regional Development, Mladjan Dinkić, and Republic of Serbia Minister for National Investment Programme, Verica Kalanović. On this occasion the Mayor presented the plans for the development of Niš as the center of South Serbia. Niš City Management presented the potentials of electronics industry as the generators of regional development and attraction of investments. Also the plans for big infrastructural projects for roads, railways, airport and Corridor 10 were presented. Having in mind

that the City of Niš is revising its development strategy, Mayor Simonović expressed his hope that the representatives of the Ministries will get involved in this process. "It is very important to use this development strategy revision process so that regional aspect of this document could be pointed out. This revision should be directed in the way which would enable the City of Niš, which is the third largest city in Serbia, to become the logistic center of this region to which it is entitled to due to its strategic position. This process will be in accordance with the Law on Regional Development which identi�es Niš as the center of South Serbia", said Mayor Simonović.

LAW ON REGIONAL DEVELOPMENTDRAFT PRESENTED

On the occasion of the draft law presentation, the Republic of Serbia Minister for economy and regional development, Mladjan Dinkić, said that the law envisaged the division of Serbia into seven regions so that the state itself and EU as well could invest more into poorly developed regions of the country.

According to the present draft, the City of Niš will be the center of Southern region which will cover the Nišavski, Jablanički, Pčinjski and Toplički districts. Mayor Simonović said that the City of Niš expected much from the Law on Regional Development because the Law positioned Niš City as the regional

center which will guide the development of numerous local communities. "Presently Serbia is asymmetrical in its organization due to the lack of middle level governance on the whole territory of Serbia and that is why the law adoption and application are important", pointed out Mayor Simonović. "It is up to us to de�ne regional interests and, after the law adoption, to develop international cooperation and to apply for the EU funds using institutional frameworks", said Mayor Simonović at the promotion of the Law on Regional Development Draft in Niš.

Law on Regional Development Draft whose adoption is expected this year was presented to Niš public.

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LAND MANAGEMENT AND ADMINISTRATION MODERNISATION PROJECT PRESENTED

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This project is being implemented by the City of Niš with the support of USAID programme MEGA and it is the part of the wider project of the local self government property asset management. The objective of this project is creation of the database of land sites to which the City is entitled and which would serve the city for systematic and planned management of the land sites with the �nal aim of encouraging economic development. The particular project objectives are: the change in approach to property asset management, improvement of land property management and administration, local economic development promotion and investment climate advancement.

The City of Niš identi�ed the land property asset as the most valuable resource. That is why this project is of utmost importance having in mind the expected passing of Law on Public Property. Leasing the land sites and other public property to potential investors will directly contribute to local economic development and to the achievement of the city strategic objectives. This project implies the change in the approach of the relevant local administration departments to

land property management. The very method of leasing the land will be changed to �t the better legal and urban planning preparation of the land property location. The marketing of property location should be improved. The database of the public land properties to which the city is entitled will be created. The procedure for the obtaining the construction permit will be simpli�ed. The implementation of this project does not aim to enable selling the land properties at high prices generating short term income. It aims at using this valuable resource as the function of local economic development. The land site in Donje Medjurovo will be treated as pilot project. The feasibility study on the best urban planning usage will be done for this location. The City Administration Department for property assets will undertake all the necessary steps to prepare this location for the auction. Presently the city regulations on leasing the city land sites, on constructions on city land sites and on fees for using city land sites are being modi�ed. The auction for pilot land site is expected to be held by June 2009. The expected project results are the creation of uniformed database on city land sites which will be updated on regular basis and which will be available to everyone, making available the unused public land sites, the improvement of the procedure and the methods of leasing land sites, improvement of the procedure for construction permit obtaining and improvement of the city investment climate and local economic development.

Niš City Mayor, Miloš Simonović, presented the Project of Niš City Land Management and Administration Modernisation at Niš City Hall.

In relation to Niška Banja municipality president's announcement that he will hold referendum for separation of the municipality from the City, Mayor of Niš, Mr. Miloš Simonović, has reminded that this kind of citizens' declaration requires prior legal procedure with which the initiator did not acquaint the municipality inhabitants. "According to the legal procedure for holding of referendum for the separation of Niška Banja municipality, it is necessary to obtain the signatures of 10% of Niš electoral body, i.e. around 30.000,00 signatures," explained Mayor Simonović. Besides that, it is necessary to develop and submit the elaborate on justi�cation of the initiative for Niška Banja separation. He said that the explanation or analysis of the facts justifying the above mentioned initiative had not arrived up to now. Niš City Mayor, Mr. Miloš Simonović, considers that announcing the initiative on separation of Niška Banja was an act of personal promotion and it is not supported by citizens. "The previous experience has shown that taking care of the city under the motto "let me work" brought nothing good to Niš citizens", reminded Mayor Simonović and he sent the message to local politician and city o�cials to get more involved in the working process without so much demagogy. The city will apply only unique policy for the development of all �ve city municipalities.

UNIQUE DEVELOPMENT POLICY FOR ALL CITY MUNICIPALITIES

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STATUTE OF VOJVODINA PROPOSAL PRESENTED IN NIŠ The Mayor of Niš City, Mr. Miloš Simonović, received the Serbian Parliament delegation and the delegation of the Vojvodina Parliament headed by the president of Serbian Parliament Mrs. Slavica Djukić Dejanović and the president of Vojvodina Parliament, Mr. Šandor Egereši.

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They discussed the new Statute of Vojvodina proposal. Mayor Simonović, together with National Parliament members from Niš and with the representatives of Niš City, discussed with Mrs. Djukić Dejanović and Mr. Egereši, about the importance of new Statute for Autonomous Province of Vojvodina as well as the importance of further Serbia regionalization. Since the meeting was attended only by the National Parliament members from governing coalition, the Mayor Simonović expressed his regret that the opposition National Parliament members did not accept the invitation to discuss the proposal for new Vojvodina Statute. The open dialogue about this important document with the representatives of

National Parliament and Vojvodina Parliament was good opportunity for National Parliament members from Niš and Niš City representatives to present their suggestions and comments and make clear all the ambiguities related to new Statute proposal. "One of the basic tasks of the Niš region is to de�ne the regional interests and to create institutional frameworks for the development of the international cooperation after the adoption of the Law on Equal Regional Development", said Mayor Simonović. This visit to the City of Niš represents the continuation of the presentation of the New Vojvodina Statute to local administrations on the Serbian territory with the aim to present this document as accurately as possible.

Niš City Mayor, Mr. Miloš Simonović, held the meeting with Niš City Assembly president, the heads of Niš City Parliamentary groups, the presidents of the city parliamentary party boards and National Parliament members from Niš at Niš City Hall. Forming unique city policy towards Republican Government, ministries and respective institutions was discussed at the meeting. It was agreed to initiate procedure for constituting the Council for City Development. It was also agreed to pass the Decision by City Council on forming Business Economic Council on the city level whose primary role would be to follow the economic situation in the city with regard to the regional consequences of the global economic crisis.

City authorities agreed to focus future Niš City Parliament session on particular topics and to make decisions by reaching consensus since they will be deciding about the issues of vital signi�cance for the functioning of the city itself and the citizens as well. It was also agreed that the meetings between the Mayor and Niš City Assembly president with the heads of Niš City Parliamentary groups and the presidents of the City Parliamentary party boards and National Parliament members from Niš would be regular activity and would be held once a month.

UNIQUE CITY POLICY TOWARDS REPUBLICAN GOVERNMENT

NIŠ – STATE CULTURAL CENTER

The Ministry of Culture State Secretary, Mr. Nadica Momirov, visited the Niš City Mayor, Mr. Miloš Simonović. On this occasion Mrs. Momirov informed Mayor Simonović that Ministry of Culture allocated 51 million dinars for the beginning of the special protective construction over the archeological site Medijana.

Mayor Simonović informed the State Secretary Mrs. Momirov about the city preparation for the celebration of Edict of Milan signing anniversary. Huge campaign led by the city is planned for the year 2013, the year when 1700th anniversary of recognizing the Christianity will be celebrated.

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NIŠ UNDER SNOWNiš City Mayor Miloš Simonović summoned the members of the City Team for Crisis Management: Blagoje Bradić, City Councilor, Dragan Jovanović, Niš City Parliament secretary, Žarko Damjanović, the head of Ministry of Defense Center for Civil Protection and Zoran Stojanović, and the head of the Niš Police Station.

The ward of the city emergency department was opened in the city municipality Niška Banja.

CITY EMERGENCY DEPARTMENT WARD OPENED IN THE CITY MUNICIPALITY NIŠKA BANJA

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Since the heavy snow during the previous night blocked the tra�c in the area of city entrances from the motorways of the Corridor 10, the City Team for Crisis Management analysed the situation on the motorways to Skoplje and Dimitrovgrad. Besides bad weather conditions, the tra�c collapse was caused by late intervention of republic public services in charge for maintaining the roads on the territory of Serbia. Niš City Mayor visited the blocked city entrances. He said that only the special police forces were at the sights. There were no other teams from the services under whose jurisdiction the maintenance of the

road is. The police forces helped to evacuate the drivers and passengers from the buses and trucks stuck in now. Upon the intervention from the Mayor, the food was delivered to the people who were forced to stay at the motorways due to bad weather conditions. City Crisis Management Team concluded at its meeting that Niš Winter Maintenance Services reacted adequately to bad weather conditions. There were some problem with the supplies of electric energy which occurred due o the overload of the system network but the maintenance teams were making all possible e�orts to stabilize the situation.

16.000 citizens of Niška Banja municipality will use the services of the emergency departments. This newly opened emergency ward represents the achievement of one more objective within the scope local primary care policy with the aim of bringing closer local primary care services to the citizens. The ward and its teams will be on call 24 hours a day. Niš City Mayor, Mr. Simonović, announced that the city would apply for the funds from KFW German Development Bank Programme and

those funds would be intended for the opening and equipping of new health care department in the municipality of Niška Banja.

The 67th Anniversary of Nazi German Concentration Camp "Crveni Krst" break-through was marked by placing the �ower wreaths and holding the memorial service. The event was attended by former prisoners, Niš Eparchy priesthood, representatives of the city soldiers associations, scouts and local self government representatives. The concentration camp "12.februar" (Crveni Krst) is one of few preserved fascist camps in Europe, which authentically testi�es on su�ering of Niš and South East Serbia people in the Second World War. The camp was formed by Germans in September 1941 and around 30.000 people were imprisoned in it. There was a dramatic prison breakout on February 12th, 1942. 147 armless people guided by the wish for freedom attacked the guards and 105 of them succeeded to run away.

THE ANIVERSARY OF BREAKOUT FROM CRVENI KRST CONCENTRATION CAMP

The Commission for encouraging talented pupils and students chose the candidates for city scholarships for the year 2009. The Commission approved the scholarships for 246 candidates who completed the public announcement criteria. 133 students, 35 secondary school pupils and 78 sportsmen were awarded the city scholarships.

CITY SCHOOLARSHIPS FOR TALENTED PUPILS AND STUDENTS

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Mayor Miloš Simonović and city councilors Blagoje Bradić and Žarko Ranković visited the Center for In Vitro Fertilization of Gynecology Clinic, Maternity Department of the Clinical Center Niš.

MORE FINANCIAL MEANS AND BETTER CONDITIONS FOR MARRIED COUPLES WITHOUT CHILDREN

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On that occasion Mayor and the city councilors recon�rmed the intention of the City to help married couples who cannot get children in natural way. Arti�cial insemination has not been applied in Niš up to now, neither in public nor in private medical institutions. Women from Niš and South East Serbia will not have to travel any more to Novi Sad or Belgrade in order to subject to in vitro fertilization. Respecting the fact that more and more couples cannot conceive a child in natural way, the city authorities decided to o�er less strict criteria compared to state level criteria for in vitro fertilization �nancing from the city budget. The City does not limit eligibility of married couples by age and it enables them to choose themselves the medical institution which will do the treatment. Families whose quaternary income does not exceed 4 average net salaries in Niš have right to 100% costs remuneration. The couples whose incomes exceed 4

average net salaries can get 50% costs remuneration from the city budget. Since 2006, The City of Niš has allocated the means from the city budget for in vitro fertilization program �nancing. In 2007 80 babies, conceived by this procedure, were born in Niš and in 2008 87 couples asked for �nancial help from the city. At the moment 20 couples for whom in vitro fertilization is the only way to get children are waiting for the approval to use funds from this program. According to the words of Dejan Mitić, the head of the Center for in vitro fertilization in Niš, 12 women completed the process in the past few months and 80 women from Niš and the surroundings are on the waiting list. Niš is one of rare cities in the country which allocates money from the city budget for this purpose. In this year 10 million dinars will be allocated for the support of in vitro fertilization, which is 4 million more compared to the previous year.

The Center for Medical Waste Treatment was opened in the village Trupale near Niš City. The opening ceremony was attended by Niš City Mayor Mr. Miloš Simonović, the Ministry of Health State Secretary Mrs. Nevena Karanović, the Niš Health Care Center management and the representatives of city public utility companies. This is the �rst such center in this part of the country where the medical waste from ten di�erent primary health care institutions will be sterilized. That means that infectious waste will be sterilized before being disposed at the land�ll. The opening of this kind of facility proves that the City is determined to solve the problem of communal waste. The building of the medical waste treatment center is a step forward to getting closer to EU standards and it contributes to establishing ecological environment in the area of Niš City and Niš region. The Ministry of Health State Secretary, Mrs. Nevena Karanović, said that it was planned to build six facilities for medical waste treatment on the territory of Serbia whose total value was 7,2 million euros. Trupale Center required 80.000,00 euros and the money was invested in construction works, equipment and special vehicle for collecting and disposal of the medical waste. This project of constructing and equipping the centers for medical waste treatment is realized by Ministry of Health in cooperation with Niš City and it is �nanced by European Agency for reconstruction and Development.

MEDICAL WASTE TREATMENT CENTER OPENED

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Newsletter: No. 2 - February 2009www.ni.rs

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Y In connection to the adoption of the Amendment to the Law on Excise, the Niš City Mayor, Mr. Miloš Simonovic, addressed the Republic of Serbia Minster of Finance, Mrs. Diana Dragutinović, in the letter where he stated: "Adopting the Amendment to the Law on Excise makes direct breach of the agreement envisaged by CEFTA Action Plan which was agreed between Republic of Serbia Government and the representatives of the tobacco industries. Modi�cations of the Law on Excise, which are referring to tobacco industry, are damaging to the region of whole Southern Serbia where two biggest cigarettes manufacturers function (Philip Morris and British American Tobacco). At the same time, the announced measures concerning tobacco industry, in the long run, would in�uence negatively the export of cigarettes into CEFTA countries, for the Philip Morris, which is the owner of the Tobacco Industry Niš, and for British American Tobacco which is the owner of Vranje Tobacco industry. During last �ve years, these renowned companies operating in the area of South Serbia invested more millions of dollars into our country and the investment announced for this year are put to question due to high excise. Having the above mentioned in mind, the City of Niš, the Nišava district and South Serbia could loose several thousands jobs thus endangering the lives of the potentially unemployed and their families. That is why I am addressing you so that you could �nd the solution for the problem which has been caused by adopting the Amendment of Law on Excise. If nothing is done, besides the destabilization of tobacco industry, the increase of the unemployment will occur, as well as the decrease of the budget income. The smuggling of cigarettes will increase. Bad message will be sent to the potential investors."

NIŠ CITY MAYOR ABOUT AMENDMENT TO LAW ON EXCISE

WEB SERVICE FOR TAX APPLICATION SUBMISSION OPENED

It means that, in the future, all tax payers can submit their tax application for all taxes which are under jurisdiction of local self government. At the home page of the o�cial web site for the application review and submission to tax administration there is tax application form for the property of individual and legal entities as well as the form for local communal taxes. The forms can be downloaded from the web site. The home page also contains the instructions for opening the user account for all the citizens which will use this internet application. With the aim of better informing the citizens, the home page of the tax application review and submission web site, contains the instructions with basic data about the easiest ways of

registering tax on property and the short description of the reasons why tax on property become local income. This web service is just one of the many internet services which will facilitate the citizens in ful�lling their legal obligations and which will reduce their expenses. Besides the advantages for the everyday life of our citizens, further improvement of the electronic government contributes signi�cantly to the economy competitiveness and increases the local administration level of e�ciency. In order to obtain data about tax on property payers on the territory of the Niš City and expansion of data base the City Council adopted the Conclusion on updating the database of communal services users which will be coordinated with tax payers' database.

The City of Niš opened the service for the review and submission of the tax applications via internet at the web site www.lpa.ni.rs

SURVEY ON NIŠ CITY ENTERPRISES AND ENTERPRENEURS

The City of Niš in cooperation with USAID's Municipal Economic Development Program, within the implementation of the building municipality capacities for local economic development (LED) is conducting the survey on the needs and attitudes of small and medium enterprises operating on the territory of the Niš City. The survey will cover

115 enterprises and entrepreneurs in order to obtain information about the city economy needs so that the projects which should be the part of Niš City Development Strategy could be identi�ed. The survey is conducted with the support of the Niš City Department for economy, planning and sustainable city development.