In his opening address, State Secretary at the Ministry of Cohesion and Regional Development Srečko Đurov recalled that 25 years had passed since the adoption of the Balanced Regional Development Act that had been updated only twice in all that time. The aim of the Ministry of Cohesion and Regional Development is, inter alia, to make step change and put in place conditions that will allow the country to effectively cope with regional development-related challenges.  

''The Ministry is working on amendments to the Balanced Regional Development Act to help improve the work of regional structures and to have a legal basis in place that will allow the government to delegate more tasks to the development regions. In the meantime, our goal remains the same – to ensure a high quality of life in all development regions. We aim for a more balanced development across all regions, making sure that less developed areas catch up with those that are more developed while paying special attention to border and problem areas. The new act will contain the basis for the adoption of the national regional development strategy, a document that will underline the importance of this area,’’ stressed State Secretary Đurov.  

The upcoming regional development strategy will give due recognition and value to regional development. It will also facilitate monitoring and evaluation of regional development, making them more effective. The aim of the new law will be to regulate better and more clearly the way regional policy is monitored and evaluated. A set of clear and quality indicators will be designed to help more effectively monitor and evaluate regional development results to help the relevant authorities plan and design the relevant regional policy measures in a more targeted and faster way.

Introductory remarks were also delivered by Miran Gajšek, State Secretary at the Ministry of Natural Resources and Spatial Planning, Franci Bratkovič from the Association of Regional Development Agencies of Slovenia and Matjaž Ribaš from the Slovenian Regional Development Fund. 

The rich event programme, delivered on 16 and 17 May 2024, features a series of presentations, debates and roundtables, putting spotlight, inter alia, on the regional development strategy, demographic trends and human resources demands, analysis of labour market trends in Slovenia, human resources and regional development, regions as an attractive place to live and work, challenges of hiring foreign workers in Slovenia.

The event is organised by the Anton Melik Geographical Institute of the Scientific Research Centre of the Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts, the Ministry of Cohesion and Regional Development, the Ministry of Natural Resources and Spatial Planning, the Slovenian Regional Development Fund and the Association of Regional Development Agencies.