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The Government of the Republic of Serbia

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Novi Sad declared European Capital of Culture

Novi Sad, 13 January 2022

Prime Minister Ana Brnabic attended tonight the solemn ceremony at the Serbian National Theatre in Novi Sad, at which this city was proclaimed the European Capital of Culture.

Head of the Delegation of the European Union to Serbia Emanuel Giaufret presented a plaque to Mayor Milos Vucevic, which officially brought Novi Sad this prestigious title.

On that occasion, Brnabic pointed out that there is no city that deserved to raise the European flag of youth and culture more than Novi Sad.

Novi Sad is a centre of creativity and culture, excellence and innovation. Novi Sad is a city where large foreign technology companies, research and development centres are flourishing today, but also a city of extraordinary domestic smart companies, our people who are world leaders in innovation, she explained.

According to her, great efforts have been made to make Novi Sad a candidate for the prestigious title of European Capital of Culture, and then to become one of the most successful cultural capitals with the largest budget invested in culture.

The Prime Minister emphasised that behind that success is a great and dedicated team work of the Foundation "Novi Sad European Capital of Culture" and the City of Novi Sad, with the support of the provincial and central governments.

She mentioned the attraction of research and development centres such as Continental in Novi Sad, the construction of a network of science parks in Belgrade, Novi Sad, Nis and Cacak, the establishment of the Science Fund, the Institute for Artificial Intelligence Research, and the reconstruction and revitalisation of Novi Sad's Chinatown, Which is one of the leading and most recognizable projects of the European Capital of Culture itself.

Also, as she reminded, after more than a decade, the National Museum and the Museum of Contemporary Art, the National Theatre in Vranje were renovated, and the construction of a new concert hall in Belgrade was initiated, which will become one of the landmarks of the capital.

Important infrastructural projects for the construction and renovation of the faculties of music, fine arts and applied arts have also been launched, Brnabic pointed out.

Novi Sad declared European Capital of Culture

Author: Tanjug

As she added, following the example of Chinatown in Novi Sad, a project of revitalisation and remodelling of the Old Heating Plant in Belgrade into a multifunctional creative-innovative centre has been launched.

I am proud of one extremely important fact, which speaks the most about how important investing in culture is for us – the previous government I led was the first in the history of Serbia to take a loan from the Council of Europe Development Bank for investing in culture, the Prime Minister said.

She specified that the budget for film and film productions was increased from €239,000 in 2012 to €21.9 million in 2021, and that today we are witnessing an "explosion" of film and audiovisual production in Serbia, in which more are being shot. of 20 domestic and foreign films and series simultaneously.

In her speech, Brnabic stated that incentives were introduced for the development of innovative and creative activities in order to motivate our people to stay in the country or to return to it.

According to her, in the last six years, creative activities have recorded an incredible growth of 60 percent and make up as much as 7.4 percent of our GDP.

Between 2014 and 2020, the export of creative industries increased by 51 percent, and more than half of the employees are young, while more than one billion euros of investments in the last five years were in creative industries, mostly in software development, video games and cinema – and Novi Sad stands out here again, Brnabic emphasized.

I congratulate you once again on the title and thank you for bringing Europe and the European Union to Novi Sad and Serbia, but also for putting Novi Sad and Serbia at the forefront of Europe and the European Union in the best possible way – culture, concluded Brnabic.

As part of the ceremony, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Culture and Information Maja Gojkovic, Mayor of Novi Sad Milos Vučevic, Director of the Foundation "Novi Sad 2022 - European Capital of Culture" Nemanja Milenkovic and via video message EU Commissioner for Innovation, Research, Culture, Education and Youth Mariya Gabriel.