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Last June, the Council of the European Union adopted a Regulation on nature restoration. The overarching objective of the Regulation is to restore at least 20% of the EU's terrestrial and marine areas by 2030 and all ecosystems in need of restoration by 2050. The Ministry of Natural Resources and Spatial Planning has therefore started to prepare a National Nature Restoration Plan, which will be a key document for the implementation of the Nature Restoration Regulation.

During its presidency of MED9, Slovenia will focus on strengthening Europe's resilience and competitiveness, youth empowerment and capacity-building in higher education, digitalisation and culture as well as the EU enlargement and other foreign policy issues. A number of events will be organised during the Presidency, which you can follow on the dedicated MED9 website.

The Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Food has issued an open call to citizens, legal persons or other organisations for the identification of candidates for the 2025 Golden Bee Award. The call was approved last week at a meeting of the Golden Bee Award Committee, which was appointed by the Government of the Republic of Slovenia in 2021 and chaired by the Minister Mateja Čalušić.

The European Commission has published in the Official Journal the Implementing Regulation entering the name of Istrski med/Istarski med (PDO) into the Register of Protected Designations of Origin and Protected Geographical Indications, thus protecting Istrski med as a joint product of both Slovenia and Croatia. The application for the protection was prepared jointly by Slovenian beekeepers from the Koper Coastal Beekeepers' Society and Croatian beekeepers from Istria.

The main international event to mark the 7th World Bee Day this year - the international forum “Bees for People, Planet and Peace” took place in Ljubljana, hosted by the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Food in cooperation with the Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). The opening part of the international forum “Bees for People, Planet and Peace” was attended by the State Secretary of the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Food Ervin Kosi.

On World Bee Day, Minister of Foreign and European Affairs Tanja Fajon and Director-General of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) Qu Dongyu inaugurated an urban beehive in the garden of the Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs at a special ceremony and opened the international forum "Bees for People, Planet and Peace".

The Golden Bee Award was presented on World Bee Day for the fourth time. The award was presented by the President of the Republic Nataša Pirc Musar, and the winner was declared by the Minister of Agriculture Mateja Čalušić. The Golden Bee Award was presented to The Wheen Bee Foundation Limited of Australia. Many other events were organised around the world on the occasion of today's World Bee Day.

We are only a week away from the seventh World Bee Day. The Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Food along with the Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) co-organise an international forum "Bees for people, planet and peace" as part of World Bee Day celebrations. It will be held on 22 and 23 May 2024 in Ljubljana.

The fourth Golden Bee Award will be presented this year. The award committee received 16 applications from 11 countries for achievements in the promotion of bees and wild pollinators.

On 20 May, Slovenia and the world will celebrate World Bee Day for the seventh time. The United Nations General Assembly proclaimed World Bee Day on 20 December 2017. Its main purpose is to raise awareness among the international public about the importance of bees and other pollinators for humanity in light of food security, the global elimination of hunger and care for the environment and biodiversity.

The delegation responsible for implementing forestry policy in Montenegro started its visit to Slovenia on Monday. During its visit, the delegation met with the representatives of the Slovenian ministry responsible for forestry, the Slovenia Forest Service and the Slovenian Forestry Institute. They were shown examples of various forestry practices on the ground.

State Secretary Dr Blaž Germšek has attended the informal meeting of agriculture ministers in Genk. The discussion focused on how to increase the EU's self-sufficiency in protein crops, while considering all three aspects of sustainability.

Minister Mateja Čalušić has attended the Agriculture and Fisheries Council, where ministers continued the discussion on the necessary measures to tackle the crisis in agriculture. The European Commission presented a new package of measures to enhance farmers' position in the agri-food chain. The ministers discussed the market situation following the invasion of Ukraine. In early afternoon, Minister Čalušić met with Commissioner for Agriculture Janusz Wojciechowski.

State Secretary Eva Knez has attended the informal meeting of EU ministers responsible for fisheries. The main topic of the informal meeting was the "Future of the EU fisheries and aquaculture". The discussion focused on the impact of external factors such as climate change, energy and input prices, and geopolitical situation. Examples of good practice in fisheries were presented.

The Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Food informs the public that the deadline for submitting applications for the Golden Bee Award expires on 15 March 2024. The topic of this year's open call is achievements in the promotion of bees and other pollinators.

The European Commission announced its withdrawal of a proposal for a regulation on the sustainable use of plant protection products by 31 March 2024. Slovenia supported the proposal in principle, but repeatedly pointed out certain problematic issues during the discussion, in particular the inadequate consideration of the specificities of individual Member States.

Participants of today’s EU Agriculture and Fisheries Council (Agri-Fish Council) meeting discussed measures to combat crises in the agricultural sector. Slovenia was represented in the meeting by the Secretary of State, Ms. Eva Knez, who pointed out on arrival that Slovenia welcomed the European Commission’s proposals of simplifying the existing Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) rules. “The measures proposed are aimed at taking greater account of specificities of individual Member States. Today, we repeatedly proposed introducing the ad hoc financial mechanism for countries to be in a position to respond rapidly to crises in agriculture.”

On the last day of his visit to Slovenia, FAO Director-General QU Dongyu visited Slovenian Istria together with Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Food Mateja Čalušić. They toured the InnoRenew CoE independent research institute and a farm engaged in wine-growing, olive-growing and complementary activities.

ector-Genreal of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations QU Dongyu visited Slovenia at the invitation of the President of the Republic of Slovenia Nataša Pirc Musar. As part of his visit to Slovenia, Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Food Mateja Čalušić will host the Director-General today and tomorrow. Today, they visited two farms in the vicinity of Ljubljana and the Municipality of Dol pri Ljubljani.

A political agreement was reached between the EU Council and the European Parliament on Tuesday, 30 January 2024, regarding the European Commission's proposals for greater transparency in the labelling of the origin of honey blends.