News

The Slovenian Minister of the Environment, Climate and Energy, Bojan Kumer, attended a working meeting in Budapest on 4 October 2023, following an invitation received from the Hungarian Minister of the Foreign Affairs and Trade, Péter Szijjártó. The main reason for the visit was the signing of a political memorandum of understanding on the gas supply between the two countries.

The Government of the Republic of Slovenia has taken note of the assessment of direct damage following the natural disaster that struck Slovenia on 4 August 2023. The assessment covers all aspects of the natural disaster, from the replacement of buildings, the rehabilitation of watercourses, the restoration of infrastructure, the protection and restoration of cultural heritage sites, and waste disposal and management.

At today's session, the Government was briefed on the Estimate of Direct Flood Damage, it finalised the draft Resolution on the 2023–2030 National Road Safety Programme and adopted the 2023–2028 Natura 2000 Management Programme.

The 11th Slovenian Development Days are in full swing. The event traditionally takes place in the first week of October to present to the Slovenian public the contribution of Slovenia and its partners to sustainable development, global solidarity and world peace.

Today, Prime Minister Dr Robert Golob sent a proposal to the National Assembly of the Republic of Slovenia for the appointment of Prof. Dr Valentina Prevolnik Rupel to the post of minister of health.

At the government committee meetings, the Government adopted its opinion on several legislative proposals and provided funds to deal with the aftermath of this summer's storms and floods.

The Slovenian-Italian application to the UNESCO Man and the Biosphere Programme (MAB) Secretariat for the establishment of the Julian Alps Transboundary Biosphere Reserve was officially submitted yesterday in Paris. The application proposes a merger of the existing national biosphere reserves – the Slovenian Julian Alps Biosphere Reserve and the Italian Julian Alps Biosphere Reserve.

The Ministry of the Economy, Tourism and Sport paid €31.77 million in advance payments to compensate for damage to the economy caused by August’s floods and landslides. Advances were made to all eligible businesses that submitted a damage assessment to the Ministry by 1 September, requesting an advance payment of 10% of the estimated damage.

Today, Minister of Foreign and European Affairs Tanja Fajon participated in the informal meeting of EU foreign ministers in Kyiv, in the presence of Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy also took part in the meeting.

The 17th session of the Intergovernmental Commission for Monitoring the Treaty between the Government of the Republic of Slovenia and the Government of the Republic of Croatia on the Regulation of the Status and Other Legal Relations regarding Investment, Exploitation and Decommissioning of the Krško Nuclear Power Plant (NEK) took place today.

Daren Tang, Director General of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), visited the Jožef Stefan Institute, met with representatives of Slovenian collective management organisations and the winners of this year's Innovation Day, as well as with startup companies at the Technology Park in Ljubljana.

Prime Minister Robert Golob took part in the 10th summit of the heads of the EUMED-9 member states, which was held in Valletta, the capital of Malta.

The European Commission today welcomed the proposal to amend the Slovenian Recovery and Resilience Plan. The amendment to the plan also needs to be approved by the Council of the European Union. The renewed plan, which now also includes a REPowerEU chapter, will be worth EUR 1.61 billion in EU grants and EUR 1.07 billion in loans.

Minister of Cohesion and Regional Development Dr Aleksander Jevšek attended the informal meeting of EU ministers responsible for Cohesion Policy that was held in Murcia under the auspices of the Spanish Presidency of the Council of the European Union. Minister Jevšek called for a strong, resilient, and flexible Cohesion Policy that should be the main long-term investment policy of the European Union (EU).

Minister Tanja Fajon addressed deputies at a public hearing at the National Assembly on the subject of increased use of qualified majority voting in EU foreign and security policy. She stressed: "I am not an advocate of changing the EU Treaties, but I would like to see a reasoned debate on the wider use of the instruments at our disposal to make decision-making more effective and to protect our national interests."

Minister of the Interior Boštjan Poklukar spoke by telephone with Nenad Nešić, Minister of Security of Bosnia and Herzegovina

On September 15, 2023, newly appointed Slovenian Ambassador to the United States of America Iztok Mirošič attended a ceremony at the White House, in which he formally presented his Letter of Credence from the Slovenian President Nataša Pirc Musar to U.S. President Joseph R. Biden. He also conveyed greetings from the Prime Minister Dr. Robert Golob.

Minister of the Interior Boštjan Poklukar attended a meeting of the Justice and Home Affairs Council in Brussels.

Slovenia retained its 33rd place among 132 countries in this year's ranking. Switzerland retained the top spot among the world's most innovative countries, a position it has held for more than a decade.

The 11th Slovenian Development Days will take place in Ljubljana from 2 to 6 October. The Slovenian public will be able to learn more about how Slovenia is responding to the numerous global crises and humanitarian needs in the world and how, together with its partners, it is contributing to global solidarity, sustainable development and peace in the world.

The Government has approved the budget package for 2024 and 2025. The priority for the next two years is to finance measures to deal with the consequences of this year's floods. The draft budgetary amendment for 2024 foresees €14 billion in revenue and €16.2 billion in expenditure, and for 2025 €14.56 billion in revenue and €15.82 billion in expenditure.

On 27 September 2023, the third conference of the honorary consuls of the Republic of Slovenia began in Nova Gorica and will last until 29 September 2023. It is an important event for promoting Slovenia and its economy abroad.

On Wednesday, 27 September 2023, the second public consultation on drafting the amendments to the Promotion of Balanced Regional Development Act took place at the premises of the Rajhenburg Castle in Brestanica. The consultation focused on border and other problem areas, the programme of development incentives to ensure balanced regional growth, as well as the definition and financing of these areas.

At today's session, the Government took note of information on the progress of the implementation of the Preliminary Programme for the repair of direct damage to property caused by the floods of 4 August 2023, the progress of activities to prepare the application to the EU Solidarity Fund, and the activities related to the determination and payment of intervention costs.

Prime Minister Robert Golob and his ministers today visited Koroška, the region worst affected by the August floods, where they met with mayors, business representatives, entrepreneurs and others.

Minister of Foreign and European Affairs Tanja Fajon took part in a meeting of foreign ministers of the Central5 (C5) group, which comprises Slovenia, Austria, the Czech Republic, Hungary and Slovakia. The focus was on Russia's aggression against Ukraine, the situation in the Western Balkans and the fight against irregular migration.

The 3rd Consultation of Honorary Consuls of Slovenia, which will take place until Friday 29 September 2023, has started in Nova Gorica. This is an important event for the promotion of Slovenia and its economy abroad. Of the 143 Slovenian honorary consuls from all over the world, 77 are participating.

This year, Slovenian police have dealt with more than 40,000 persons who crossed the border illegally. "That is why this morning the Slovenian police have stepped up their activities on some of the most critical parts of the border, in particular with Croatia," Interior Minister Boštjan Poklukar said in a press statement.

In the morning, the Minister of Cohesion and Regional Development Dr Aleksander Jevšek visited Radlje ob Dravi and met with the Mayor of Radlje ob Dravi Municipality Alan Bukovnik and the Director of the Regional Development Agency for Koroška Karmen Sonjak. They discussed the post-flood recovery measures and the funding opportunities under Slovenia's Cohesion Policy Programme 2021-2027.

As part of a study visit to the Regional School of Public Administration (ReSPA), the Ministry of Digital Transformation's representatives presented the process of designing, adopting, and monitoring the Digital Slovenia 2030 Strategy and the Digital Public Services Strategy 2030.

Daren Tang, Director General of the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO), met with the President of the Republic of Slovenia, the President of the National Assembly, the Minister of Higher Education, Science and Innovation and the Minister of Economy, Tourism and Sport. They discussed the importance of intellectual property as a catalyst for development for society as a whole.

Today the Council of the Government of the Republic of Slovenia for Reconstruction met for its first meeting.

Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign and European Affairs Tanja Fajon took part in a reinforced meeting of the OSCE Permanent Council at the invitation of the OSCE Chairman-in-Office, Foreign Minister of North Macedonia Bujar Osmani. She also delivered a statement at the 67th regular session of the IAEA General Conference, with Slovenia concluding its mandate.

''Studio of Circular Economy is a project that plays an important role in tackling the challenges of circular use of resources and in raising awareness of the potentials of circular economy in the local environment,'' stressed State Secretary at the Ministry of Cohesion and Regional Development mag. Marko Koprivc at a press conference held in Rogaška Slatina to present the project.

Minister of the Interior Boštjan Poklukar is hosting the Minister of the Interior of the Republic of North Macedonia, Oliver Spasovski, today and tomorrow. Today's bilateral meeting was devoted to discussions on topical issues in the field of home affairs, in particular migration management, and to further strengthening bilateral cooperation.

With electrification and de-fossilisation trends predicting a doubling of electricity use by 2050, the Nuclear Power Plant 2 (NPP2) project is a national investment of strategic importance in a low-carbon electricity source in the Republic of Slovenia.

State Secretary Marko Štucin hosted the State Secretary at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of North Macedonia, Filip Tosevski, for consultations. The counterparts were pleased with the intensive political dialogue and excellent relations between the two countries. They exchanged views on topical regional, European and international issues.

Daren Tang, Director General of the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO), is visiting Slovenia. He and Minister Han discussed the preparation of Slovenia's first national intellectual property (IP) strategy. This will help to improve understanding and respect for intellectual property rights and, as a result, improve the environment for innovation and a competitive economy.

Tomorrow marks 23 years since the Slovenian anthem was heard at the Olympic Games for the first time. This was a very important event in Slovenian history, which is why this date was chosen as the day to celebrate Slovenian sports. To mark this year’s Day of Slovenian Sport, the Bank of Slovenia has issued a new collector coin.

On the margins of the 78th session of the UN General Assembly in New York, Minister Tanja Fajon hosted the first meeting of Ministers of Foreign Affairs of Successor States of the former SFRY. Slovenia initiated the meeting to mark the 20th anniversary of the entry into force of the Agreement on Succession Issues, with a view to promoting talks on resolving the outstanding succession issues.

On the margins of the general debate of the 78th session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA), Tanja Fajon, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign and European Affairs, attended the preparatory ministerial meeting for the Summit of the Future, which was opened by the President of the 78th UNGA, Dennis Francis, and the UN Secretary-General, António Guterres.

At its meeting today, the Government adopted the preliminary programmes for the repair of direct damage to property caused by the flooding on 4 August 2023, by the storm with flooding between 12 and 13 July 2023 and by the storm with flooding between 17 July and 3 August 2023.

The 8th Mediterranean Coast and Macro-Regional Strategies Week takes place in Izola under the motto "Stronger cooperation for a better future". This year's Week is marked by Slovenia's ongoing Presidency of the EU Strategy for the Danube Region (EUSDR) and the EU Strategy for the Alpine Region, which Slovenia will chair in 2024.

Ambassador Drofenik was pleased to host a discussion on the Ljubljana-The Hague Convention and the future of international criminal justice at the Slovenian residence last night, in the margins of the Ukraine v. Russia Genocide Convention case before the International Court of Justice.

Minister of the Interior Boštjan Poklukar spoke by telephone with the Minister of Security of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Nenad Nešić, to exchange information on migration and border management. They agreed on a visit by Minister Nešić to Slovenia in early November.

Slovenia is participating in the oral hearing as an intervening State in the proceedings before the International Court of Justice in The Hague in the case of Ukraine v. Russian Federation, which runs from 18 to 27 September 2023. Ukraine has lodged a complaint against the Russian Federation for alleged violations of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide.

State Secretary Marko Štucin hosted Leo Docherty, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Europe at the UK Department for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs and Development, for a return visit to Slovenia. Their talks were aimed at deepening bilateral relations and exchanging views on some topical European and international issues.

Interreg Cooperation Day, which took place in Umag, Croatia, showcased cross-border cooperation projects in the field of rescue and sustainable mobility, which are implemented in the framework of the Interreg Programme Slovenia-Croatia. The event was attended by both Ministers responsible for Cohesion Policy, namely the Slovenian Minster Dr Aleksander Jevšek and the Croatian Minister Šime Erlić.

On the sidelines of the 78th UN General Assembly, Minister Tanja Fajon held a series of bilateral talks, including with President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine, IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi, Foreign Minister of Ecuador Gustavo Manrique Miranda, and Secretary of Foreign Affairs of the Philippines Enrique Manalo.

On 18 September 2023, a three-day training conference kicked off in Podgorica as part of the international project Her CyberTracks designed by International Communication Union (ITU) and Germany (GIZ) incollaboration with the Western Balkans Cyber Capacity Centre (WB3C) and the University of Montenegro. The project is aiming to bridge the digital gender gap.