“We are adapting quickly, updating our plans and everything is focused on development and new investments. We continue to share our success with the community in which we operate, to invest in young people and digitalization,” says Vadim Smirnov, Deputy General Director of NIS, in an interview for Magazin Biznis.
NIS is one of the largest social investors in Serbia – through various socially responsible projects, since 2009, more than 34.7 million euros have been invested. Last year alone, this company invested more than 1.7 million euros in socially responsible projects, and the priority was to support health care institutions and the education system.
As an example, Smirnov cites the program of social responsibility “Communities together”, which NIS has been implementing in cooperation with local communities in Serbia since 2009. Since then, more than 1,000 projects have been supported and 11.8 million euruos have been invested in projects of importance for the development of culture, education and science, sports, public health, social protection and environmental protection in these communities.
This year, NIS set aside 906 thousand euros to finance projects aimed at improving environmental protection in 12 partner cities and municipalities covered by the “Communities Together” program during 2021.
“We are implementing the program with the support of the Ministry of Mining and Energy and the Ministry of Environmental Protection of the Republic of Serbia, and the funds will be directed, for example, to the introduction of solar power and lighting systems, replacement of boilers, improvement of energy efficiency through replacement of carpentry, roofing and facades public city parks, planting indigenous plant species, setting up recycling bins and containers and more,” says Smirnov.
NIS has been successfully implementing its socially responsible projects for years through the “Energy of Knowledge” program, which includes cooperation with schools and scientific societies in Serbia, universities and faculties in Serbia, the region and the Russian Federation, equipping and adapting classrooms in schools and faculties in Serbia and individual programs – student scholarships.
“The scholarship program is, in fact, our investment in the development of highly educated staff for the needs of the company. NIS provides scholarships to Serbian students in Serbia and the Russian Federation, and so far about 130 students have been awarded scholarships, of which about 50 are already employed by the company,” Smirnov points out.
Through this program, NIS cooperates with the leading faculties in the country in the field of digitalization, and at the Faculty of Electronics in Nis last year a space was opened for the implementation of joint projects in the field of digitalization and new technologies (coworking zones).
NIS transparently presents its business successes, the way in which they are achieved, as well as the efforts to strengthen the community in which it operates. In this regard, Smirnov points out that NIS is the first company in Serbia to publish a verified Report on Sustainable Development in 2011. In May this year, NIS published the 11th consecutive verified Report on Sustainable Development, which informed the public about the company’s activities during 2020 – business, investments in socially responsible projects, environmental protection, health and safety at work, as well as development human resources.
As for the core business, the deputy general director states that all basic projects remain.
“The next important project in the Pancevo Refinery is the modernization of the catalytic cracking (FC) plant, which will enable the production of additional products, including higher production of propylene. The project is worth 80 million dollars and will be done in the coming years. Everything is focused on development and new investments,” said Vadim Smirnov in an interview for Business Magazine.
