Government Office for Development and European Cohesion Policy, the Managing Authority for ERDF, ESF and Cohesion Fund, issued a grant decision for the “Call for proposals for support services provided by innovative environment entities in the Republic of Slovenia in the period 2020-2022 (SIO 2020-2022)”. The call which makes a total of EUR 10.1 million available will receive European Regional Development Fund support in the amount of EUR 7.4 million. Cohesion region Vzhodna Slovenija will receive support in the amount of over EUR 6 million and cohesion region Zahodna Slovenija will receive support in the amount of over EUR 4 million.

On 12 July, the President of the Republic of Slovenia signed a decree on the appointment of Alenka Suhadolnik as Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of Slovenia to the People’s Republic of China.

In the first half of this year, the state budget showed a surplus of EUR 208,2 million, while in the same period last year it stood at EUR 184.2 million. First-half revenues stood at approximately EUR 5.08 billion this year, up 6.8% on the same period last year, while expenditures rose 6.5% and amounted to approximately EUR 4.87 billion.

Today, State Secretary Dobran Božič received Marta Grande, the Chair of the Committee on Foreign and EU Affairs of the Italian Chamber of Deputies, accompanied by Paolo Trichilo, the Italian ambassador to Slovenia, Filippo Giuseppe Perconti, a member of the Committee, and Francesca Piazza, the secretary of the Committee.

At today’s correspondence session, the Slovenian government adopted a decision to propose Janez Lenarčič as a Member of the European Commission from Slovenia. It also decided to establish a Slovenia House in Brussels as a satellite unit of the Slovenian Embassy in Brussels, in order to provide a uniform presentation and promotion of Slovenian creativity, innovation, economic competitiveness, art, science, sports, tourism, gastronomy, winemaking and promotion of the country in general.

The 6th International Conference on Big Data Analysis and Data Mining is being held on the 25th and 26th of July in London. On the first day, dr. Kern Pipan from the IT Directorate of the Ministry of Public Administration gave a successful presentation entitled "Supporting improvements in decision making process using big data analytics in the Ministry of Public Administration of Republic Slovenia". The presentation aroused much attention, including a number of questions regarding the implementation, benefits and future challenges.

On July 11, 2019, the Government of Slovenia endorsed »The Annual Report 2018 on Radiation and Nuclear Safety in the Republic of Slovenia« and sent it to the National Assembly to be discussed on.

Andrej Logar, ambassador-at-large for key and strategic affairs, attended the informal meeting of foreign and internal ministers in Paris, which discussed migration in the Mediterranean. The meeting of the EU and Schengen ministers and heads of several international organisations was convened by French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian and French Interior Minister Christophe Castaner in the face of the growing challenges of migration management in the Mediterranean, particularly its central part, which is considered the deadliest migration route for migrants and refugees in the Mediterranean Sea.

State Secretary Dobran Božič received Loránt Vincze, the president of FUEN (the Federal Union of European Nationalities), today to present the initiative Minority Safepack. The initiative’s goal is to establish an EU framework of ethnic and linguistic minority members’ rights.

On 19 July, the President of the Republic of Slovenia signed a decree on the appointment of Lea Stančič as Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of Slovenia to Romania.

On 19 July, the President of the Republic of Slovenia signed a decree on the appointment of Peter Japelj as Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of Slovenia to the Republic of Albania.

The rating agency Fitch upgraded the credit rating for Slovenia from A- to A, with a stable outlook. This is the third such upgrade for Slovenia by rating agencies this year, showing that the country is in good shape and has been successfully consolidating its public finances.

This year’s High-Level Political Forum (HLPF) on Sustainable Development, United Nations’ central platform for follow-up and review of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the Sustainable Development Goals convened every year under the auspices of the Economic and Social Council, is held under the theme ‘’Empowering people and ensuring inclusiveness and equality’’. The key message from the HLPF is that the global response to implementing the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) has not been ambitious enough, and a renewed commitment and accelerated action is needed to deliver the SDGs in time. 47 Member States are presenting their Voluntary National Reviews of the 2030 Agenda during the Ministerial Segment. Slovenia presented its first National Voluntary Review in 2017, and will conduct its second voluntary national review in 2020.

The Government Office of the Republic of Slovenia for Development and European Cohesion Policy, the Managing Authority for the European Structural Funds and the Cohesion Fund, has issued the decision on financial support for the “Interpretation of Biodiversity and Heritage of Pile Dwellings in the Ljubljana Marshes” project. The European Regional Development Fund will contribute nearly 1.3 million euros to the project, which overall will cost just under 2.3 million euros.

To mark the 101st anniversary of Nelson Mandela’s birth, celebrated today, Political Director/ Director-General for Common Foreign and Security Policy Matej Marn attended the opening of the African Cultural Centre in Ljubljana. The African Cultural Centre was established in the framework of the African Village Institute. In addition to holding cultural events, the centre’s purpose is informal awareness raising of the importance of a multicultural society and respectful intercultural communication.

State Secretary Božič attended the General Affairs Council today, which took note of the foreseen course of negotiations on the new EU budget until the end of the year and of the Finnish Presidency’s priorities. Implementation of the new strategic agenda and the situation regarding the rule of law in the European Union were also discussed.

The Foreign Ministry participates in this year’s MetalDays festival taking place between 21 and 27 July in Tolmin, where it displays in an interactive way key sustainable development messages included in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development (Agenda 2030).

Yesterday, 17 July 2019, the Minister of the Interior Boštjan Poklukar met with the Minister of the Interior of the Italian Republic Matteo Salvini on the margins of the Informal JHA Council Meeting. The main topic of their discussion was migration.

The Government confirms Janez Lenarčič as candidate for European commissioner from Slovenia and adopts a strategy with regard to migrations.

On 16 July, the President of the Republic of Slovenia signed a decree on the appointment of Gregor Presker as Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of Slovenia to Montenegro.