Government agrees with the proposed amendments to the amended Scientific Research and Innovation Activities Act

At today's meeting of the Committee on the Economy, the Government of the Republic of Slovenia agreed to the proposed amendments to the amended Scientific Research and Innovation Activities Act. The amendments take into account the comments made by the Legislative and Legal Service of the National Assembly in terms of the compatibility of the proposed act with the Constitution of the Republic of Slovenia and the legal system, and from a legislative and technical point of view, as well as some of the comments submitted by the professional public.

Expansion of the inscription of dry stone walling on the UNESCO Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity

At the meeting of the Committee on State Regulation and Public Affairs, the Government took note of the progress made in the preparations for the expansion of the intangible cultural heritage element of dry stone walling on the UNESCO Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.

The Government gave its consent to the expansion of the inscription to include the new partner countries of Andorra, Austria, Belgium, Ireland and Luxembourg, and agreed that the nomination for the expansion be submitted on behalf of the participating countries by the Republic of Ireland. In addition, the Government decided that the Ministry of Culture would lead the preparation of the nomination on behalf of Slovenia, and the Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs would coordinate the signing of the nomination application to enable the application to be submitted on time. The Government authorised Metka Ipavic, Permanent Delegate of the Republic of Slovenia to UNESCO, to sign the nomination application.

The Slovenian expert baseline for the expansion is being prepared by the Ministry of Culture, with the participation of the Public Institute of the Republic of Slovenia for the Protection of Cultural Heritage, the Nova Gorica Regional Office, the Škocjan Caves Public Service Agency, and the Partnership for Preservation and Popularisation of the Karst Dry Stone Walling. Based on the materials prepared by the Irish Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media, and in cooperation with the representatives of the Partnership for Preservation and Popularisation of the Karst Dry Stone Walling and expert institutions, the Ministry of Culture has concluded that the expansion of the inscription to include a new group of countries is justified. This will create the conditions for a broader partnership of countries, a greater flow of information and good practices, methods and approaches for the protection and integration of cultural heritage in sustainable development. The expansion is also a positive stimulus for international cooperation under the Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage.

In addition to Slovenia, the original nomination was prepared with Greece as the lead country, Croatia, Cyprus, France, Italy, Spain and Switzerland. Dry stone walling, the skill of building without the use of any binding agents, was inscribed on the Register of the Intangible Cultural Heritage on 20 May 2016 and on the UNESCO Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity on 28 November 2018 under the title “Art of dry stone walling, knowledge and techniques".

Government changes the baseline value for the AV Media Programmes 2022–2023 project, which is included in the current Development Programmes Plan

At the meeting of the Committee on State Regulation and Public Affairs, the Government increased the value of the AV Media Programmes 2022–2023 project, which is included in the current Development Programmes Plan, by 20%, or €400,000. The Government increased the value of the project in order to enhance competitiveness, improve the quality of audiovisual (AV) works and encourage the development of new genres and TV series.

In this way, the call for tenders will bring a greater number of high-quality works with a high production value. The improved content and greater production investment will result in a higher percentage of high-quality Slovenian works in the programmes of AV providers. This is an objective set by law (the Mass Media Act, the Audiovisual Media Services Act) and the State aid scheme.

The aim of the AV Media Programmes 2022–2023 project is to promote AV production independently of broadcasters, to create conditions for the development of AV production and the related profession, and to increase the percentage of high-quality AV works and their viewership. The project is implemented by the Slovenian Film Centre.