The Pančevo Youth Centre is a cultural symbol of the city and with improved serviceability and parts of the building remodelled it became a creative space for young musicians and other artists and a venue for various events, which will contribute to the promotion of the city’s cultural values. Also, the partial reconstruction of the building ensured direct disability access, bringing equal opportunity for the disabled to take part in all cultural events in this institution. NIS has recognised the importance of this project and supported it as part of the social responsibility contest “Together for the Community” with the aim of promoting and fostering the traditional and cultural values of Pančevo. Saša Pavlov, Pančevo Mayor, highlighted the quality of cooperation between the local government and NIS on a number of projects. “Cooperation between NIS and the City of Pančevo is outstanding. I am grateful to NIS that after many years of joint efforts in implementing the Together for the Community Programme we decided to invest the funds primarily into infrastructure because it is what stays behind and what is most beneficial to all our citizens. I would like to thank NIS for demonstrating its corporate responsibility not only through the Together for the Community Programme but also through many other projects in Pančevo,” Mr Pavlov said. Vladimir Gagić, Director of NIS Refining, said that NIS was honoured to have an opportunity to be involved in the modernisation of the Youth Centre building as it is an institution with major significance for the cultural development of Pančevo and for young people. “I would like to highlight that NIS supported another four Pančevo-based projects in culture, sports and ecology under the Together for the Community Programme in 2017. We at NIS are eager to see the local community in Pančevo develop, to see culture, sports, ecology thriving and we will continue to support the local community in future as well,” Mr Gagić stressed. Marija Jević, Director of Pančevo Youth Centre, thanked NIS for supporting the modernisation of the Youth Centre building. “Thanks to the Together for the Community Programme, we managed to resume the reconstruction of the Youth Centre and improve the disability access. Of equal significance for the Youth Centre is the remodelling of the music studio that has not been in service for a year due to poor conditions. What I would like to pinpoint as the crucial aspect of this project is that young people will not only be spending their time in a nice space, but will be more creative and productive in their leisure time as well,” said Ms Marija Jević. After the addresses, the attendees were taken on a tour of the renovated Youth Centre and saw a cultural and artistic performance. Under its corporate slogan “Future at Work,” NIS has supported and partnered with 11 cities and municipalities across Serbia for nine years running. Over 900 projects receiving in excess of a billion dinars have been supported so far, promoting the social and economic development of the municipalities and cities. To meet citizen demand, NIS supported five cultural, sports and environmental projects in Pančevo in 2017, allocating 15 million dinars.
