Prime Minister Dr. Golob: “I am leaving the region an optimist”

Together with Minister Simon Maljevac and the President of the Housing Fund of the Republic of Slovenia, mag. Črtomir Remec, he toured the construction site of the Lendava residential neighbourhood, where the construction of 40 public rental apartments is underway. He also toured Lek's investment in Lendava and met with mayors and business representatives.

At the end of his visit to the region, the Prime Minister made a statement to the media. He pointed out that he had seen concrete results of this government’s policies and projects that are nearing completion in collaboration with local communities, all of which are aimed at improving people’s lives.

Today, the Prime Minister first visited the Murska Sobota General Hospital, where he discussed their investment cycle with hospital management. “The hospital has already received 330 million in funds during this term, which, according to management, is more than in the entire previous decade. This is also evident in the construction, and especially in the procurement of equipment,” said the Prime Minister.

He also toured the construction of apartments in Lendava, where the Housing Fund of the Republic of Slovenia is building 40 non-profit apartments. He also toured Lek’s investment in Lendava, where construction of a high-tech production centre for biosimilars is underway. This was Sandoz’s first investment in Slovenia, which was followed by an investment in a state-of-the-art development centre – the centre for technical development of biosimilars in Ljubljana last year, and this year, a state-of-the-art production facility for biosimilars in Brnik.

“The main takeaway of all this is that the region has started to catch up with Slovenia. While unemployment in the region was high in the past, over 20 percent even, today it has dropped to five percent,” said the Prime Minister. He added that this is still higher than the Slovenian average, but within tolerable limits. “That is why we have talked in many places today about the lack of personnel and not about the lack of jobs. We are all of the opinion that in the coming years the battle for talent will be the decisive one not only for the region, but for the entire country,” said the Prime Minister.

Final discussions were held with representatives of local communities, mayors and business representatives. “The conversation was lively. There were some concrete proposals and some critical comments on the cooperation so far, but above all, an agreement with the ministries on how to approach solving specific problems so that as many of them as possible could be completed by the end of the mandate,” said Prime Minister Dr. Golob after the meeting.

He added that he is leaving the region an optimist. “Mainly because I see that the region has become extremely dynamic in terms of development, that new opportunities are opening up here, not only for the local population, but also for the arrival of young, promising professionals from the rest of Slovenia, as well as from Europe and the world,” concluded the Prime Minister.