NIS, a company to which contribution to the progress of the community is as important as good business results, presented the Sustainable Development Report for 2018.
The ceremonial event was held at the Rectorate building of the University of Belgrade in accordance with the NIS determination that the young people are in the focus of the social responsibility of the company and the desire to encourage the development of their potentials and contribute to the efforts to stay in their country. The central event of the gathering was a panel discussion titled “Investing in Youth for the Sustainable Future of Serbia”. Slavica Đukić Dejanović, Minister without portfolio in charge of demography and population policy, Zlatibor Lončar, Minister of Health, Mladen Šarčević, Minister of Education, Science and Technological Development, and Kiril Tjurdenjev, CEO of NIS participated in the discussion.
Aleksandar Antić, Minister of Mining and Energy, opened the conference, speaking about the importance of respecting the principles of sustainable business and cited NIS as a good example in the field.
“I am proud that I am the minister of the sphere in whose jurisdiction belongs one of the key companies in the energy sector, NIS, which is paying tremendous attention to sustainable development and all the values that we are promoting today, and it is related to socially responsible behavior and to support all those which she needs. The organization and performance of the business sector can not be measured exclusively by maximizing profits, but just by the level of care for the community and the environment. I am deeply convinced that in order to solve the problem of sustainable development, a new energy and a new level of knowledge are needed, and therefore I want to send a message to the University, young people, that they must make a key contribution to the change of consciousness in our country, first of all, the levels of values with which my generation grew up to give all of us together as a society a necessary contribution to achieving the goals of sustainable development and that we should all be part of a better and more generous society”, Antić said.
Kiril Tjurdenjev, CEO of NIS, spoke about the company’s priorities in the field of sustainable development.
“For NIS sustainable development, first of all, means progress, youth, knowledge, health, the future. That is why our basic commitments in the field of sustainability – investment in the community in which we live and work, especially in the young, its most important and most vital part. We have recognized the same goals and commitments in the strategy of our most important partner – the Government of Serbia. I am confident that, working together, we will achieve remarkable results. Their good effects will be felt by those who are yet to come, which is the point of sustainable development”, Tjurdenjev said.
Slavica Đukic Dejanović, Minister without Portfolio in charge of Demography and Population Policy and Chairperson of the Inter-Ministerial Working Group on the Implementation of the United Nations Agenda for Sustainable Development by 2030, said that the Serbian government devotes a great deal of attention to young people and their efforts to stay in their country.
“In order to stimulate young people, companies like NIS give a chance and hope that there will be opportunities for a young man to be professionally employed in Serbia, not only to use digitization and digital literacy as a necessity without which it is impossible, but also to use their creative potentials, that it is precisely in economic and private entities and state institutions that we create a space for those creators who give their minds somewhere far away, “said Slavica Đukic Dejanović.
Zlatibor Lončar, the Minister of Health, said that the Ministry of Health in the previous period invested over 500 million euros in the construction of modern medical facilities, as well as in the procurement of new appliances and equipment.
“In addition to the aforementioned material investments, we are convinced that the key to health promotion lies in the employment of young staff, doctors and medical staff, which in the future will result in a significant improvement in our healthcare system. I would like to express immense gratitude to NIS, which gives others an example of responsible behavior, and that this case should be followed. I expect that our cooperation in the field of health system improvement will be even better year after year, “Lončar said.
Mladen Šarčević, Minister of Education, Science and Technological Development, said that investment in education is among the priorities of the Government of Serbia.
“We need to teach children to think, to think creatively, to create new ideas and values, and we create the education system precisely on these basis. NIS is the company that does exactly that, for several reasons – social responsibility that has become a common place, because of Serbian Russian friendship, and there are also the needs of the company itself for investing in education because of their own resources. NIS invested more than six million euros in education under the ” Energy of Knowledge” program, such as equipping the cabinets and creating new programs. In the system of cooperation with NIS, there are dozens of our secondary schools, we have joint projects aimed at promoting science, and the company also has excellent forms of cooperation with many faculties. NIS also mediated in establishing cooperation with numerous Russian universities, and we just want to strengthen our universities with international cooperation, “said Šarčević.
NIS is one of the pioneers of reporting on sustainable development in Serbia and this is the ninth report in the row since the beginning in 2011. The NIS Sustainability Report for 2018 is in line with the standards of the world’s leading global sustainable reporting organization Global Reporting Initiative (GRI), and was verified by independent auditing firm Ernst & Young. One of the company’s priorities is transparency in business, so the Report gives a clear insight into the business activities and financial results of the company, while on the other hand, it is NIS’s efforts to support the overall development of the community.
The report states that the business priority of NIS in 2018 was the continuation of investment in development projects, so a total of 41 billion dinars was invested, 55 percent more than a year earlier. Net profit amounted to 25.1 billion dinars, while 6.9 billion dinars was paid to shareholders as the dividend.
At the same time, NIS continued its efforts in the areas of environmental protection, corporate social responsibility and investment in the professional development of employees, which are also the foundation for sustainable development for NIS.
Since 2009, when Gazprom Neft became the majority shareholder of the company, NIS invested more than 13 billion dinars in environmental projects, out of which 320 million dinars were invested in the last year. In addition, 237 million dinars were allocated for the improvement of skills and training of employees, and more than 2,200 training was held. Also, NIS continued to employ young people through different programs without previous work experience in the company, as well as encouraging the return to Serbia of domestic experts working abroad, engaging them on company projects.
NIS was committed to work in 2018, and in the field of community development in various areas, and only in 2018, about 408 million dinars were invested in the realization of socially responsible programs. Priority projects were life enhancement projects in the communities in which the company operates. NIS supported the work of the Institute for Health Care of Children and Youth in Novi Sad, the General Hospital Studenica in Kraljevo, the Clinical Hospital Center in Kosovska Mitrovica, the Institute for Health Care of Mother and Child “Dr Vukan Cupic”, the Clinic for Burns in Belgrade and Hemat-oncology department for children’s internal illnesses in Niš. In addition, cooperation with numerous domestic and international educational and scientific institutions, as well as scholarships for the best students through the program “Energy of Knowledge”, has continued. Last year marked a significant jubilee – 10 years of cooperation with local communities throughout Serbia through the corporate program “Together for the Community”. In this period, NIS, in cooperation with its partners, implemented more than 900 projects worth over one billion dinars, which in practice showed the willingness to realize its slogan “Future at Work”.