Minister of Foreign Affairs Dr Anže Logar met US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo at Ljubljana Airport and they held a brief bilateral meeting.

The Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Food, Aleksandra Pivec, today attended the EU Agriculture and Fisheries Council meeting in Brussels (AGRIFISH). On the margins of the meeting, the Ministers of Agriculture of Germany, Portugal and Slovenia made a joint declaration in which they presented the programme of work of the future Trio Presidency regarding agriculture, fisheries and forestry.

The Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Food, Aleksandra Pivec, today attended the EU Agriculture and Fisheries Council meeting in Brussels (AGRIFISH). At the meeting, the ministers were briefed on the report on progress in consideration of the CAP reform legislative package beyond 2020 and continued to discuss the CAP reform, focusing on green architecture, the farm to fork strategy and a new implementation model.

Today, Slovenian Foreign Minister Dr. Anže Logar and US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo signed a Joint Declaration on 5G Security.

Mateja Logar from the Infectious Diseases Clinic of the Ljubljana University Medical Centre, and Slovenian Government spokesman, Ambassador Jelko Kacin, took part in a press conference on the status of the COVID-19 disease. The two spoke about the various forms of support treatment, and encouraged those who have recovered from COVID-19 to give blood. Recovering patients may in the coming months be susceptible to various other health issues, even younger patients who recovered from COVID-19 relatively easily.

At today's correspondence session, the Government of the Republic of Slovenia decided to earmark EUR 200,000 for emergency humanitarian aid to Lebanon and to send an expert to help coordinate international assistance in Lebanon within the framework of the EU Civil Protection Mechanism.

The Slovenian Government has allocated, through the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) and Caritas Internationalis, a contribution of EUR 200,000 for the people of Beirut. In addition, as part of the EU Civil Protection Mechanism, Slovenia today deployed to Beirut a logistics expert, who is part of the EU Civil Protection Team.

On the basis of an expert assessment, the Slovenian Government decided that the restrictions under the Ordinance on the temporary general restriction or prohibition of the gathering of people in the Republic of Slovenia would continue to remain in force. The Czech Republic, Malta, Switzerland, and certain Spanish administrative units, i.e. the Balearic Islands, Cantabria, and Castile and León, were removed from the green list, whereas Belgium was added to the red list.

At today's correspondence meeting, the Government decided that the Ordinance on temporary measures in implementing compulsory health insurance to control and manage the COVID-19 epidemic would cease to be in force. It also adopted the consolidated balance sheet of the state and municipalities which in 2019 increased by 2.8% or EUR 1.36 billion.

US Secretary of State Michael R. Pompeo will be visiting Slovenia next week. The purpose of the visit is to intensify the high-level relations, which have stalled during the past few years, and to deepen the close friendly relations between the two allies and partner states, Slovenia and the USA. Another aim of the visit is to enhance the high-level bilateral political dialogue and strengthen cooperation in business and other areas.

On 6 August 2020, some changes to the lists of countries were introduced. Among other, the Slovenian Government decided to take the Czech Republic, Malta, Switzerland and some administrative units of Spain off the green list (entry without a quarantine) and to add Belgium to the red list (14-day quarantine).

On behalf of the Slovenian government, Prime Minister Janez Janša sent a cable of condolences to the Prime Minister of Lebanon, Hassan Diab, expressing his shock at the loss of lives and offered support and help after the devastating explosion in the port of Beirut on Tuesday, 4 August 2020, in late afternoon hours.

One of the staff members of the Prime Minister’s Office was tested for COVID-19 yesterday as he was not feeling well. Since the test was positive, a testing for all employees who had been in contact with the staff member concerned was organised in accordance with the guidelines and epidemiological recommendations of the NIJZ (National Institute of Public Health).

In scope of the HIA project, funded by the European Comission and coordinated by TECOS with the help of SRIP FoF, SRIP FoF is launching an open call for the international expert group, where they invite Industry 4.0 experts to apply. This is the first of the overall three open calls within this project.

Based on the German version, the application has already been adapted to Slovenian conditions and is undergoing a testing phase. It was presented at a press conference by Peter Geršak, State Secretary at the Ministry of Public Administration, Primož Cigoj, Director of the RSteam company, and Špela Horjak, Deputy Government Spokesperson.

The news report, which was published on a fraudulent website and is making the rounds on social media, is an online scam. There are statements on the website that were not made or written by Prime Minister Janez Janša and were falsely attributed to him, moreover, the photos were published without authorisation from the authors.

Today, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Slovenia Dr Anže Logar met with Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Croatia Dr Gordan Grlić Radman.

On Monday, 874 tests were carried out and 14 new cases were confirmed, including one in the Hrastnik Care Home. The Head of the Expert Group on the containment and control of the COVID-19 epidemic, Dr Bojana Beović, and Deputy Government Spokesperson, Ms Špela Horjak, discussed the current situation regarding the COVID-19 disease at a press conference.

Monasteries seem to be a remnant of some distant past, but there are quite a few that are still very much alive. Slovenia has 42 operating monasteries, 14 that have been closed down, and some monasteries that have fallen into ruin.

Slovenian minister of the interior Aleš Hojs participated at a two-day ministerial summit in Vienna on efficient combat against current challenges of migration on the eastern Mediterranean route. Austrian federal minister of the interior Karl Nehammer called the conference due to increasing migration flows on the eastern Mediterranean migration route. The purpose of the meeting was to overview the overall situation regarding irregular migrations and agree on closer operational cooperation in addressing irregular migration with particular attention on border management.