News

World Water Day, celebrated on 22 March each year, highlights the importance of water. The theme of this year’s World Water Day is “Accelerating Change”. Clean (drinking) water is not a commodity to be taken for granted, it is also part of a carefully planned framework of regulations and measures to ensure water conservation.

State Secretary Marko Štucin attended the EU General Affairs Council in Brussels. Ministers and state secretaries for European affairs focused on preparations for the European Council, EU-UK relations and the rule of law.

At the meeting of the Government Committee for State Regulation and Public Affairs, the government, inter alia, changed the value of the projects “Unmanned aircraft with NRC (nuclear, radiological, chemical) upgrade”, “Arrangement of hangars for JLTV vehicles (Joint Light Tactical Vehicle)”, “Triglav VNL (multipurpose ship)”, “Pro Line 21 advanced avionics for Falcon” and “Cougar helicopter upgrade” in the applicable Development Programmes Plan 2023–2026.

With 332 million, the United States of America presents an important market with many opportunities for the Slovenian economy and tourism. It can take several years for companies to successfully penetrate the US market, and Slovenia as a country can open doors through increased promotion. This is why, for the second year in a row, Slovenia will hold the Business Investment Conference in Dallas and the Slovenian Tourism Workshop, where economy, tourism and investment opportunities on both sides will be presented in a comprehensive manner. Dallas can be an excellent springboard for Slovenian companies thanks to the visibility and popularity of basketball star Luka Doncic.

Prime Minister Robert Golob, Minister of the Environment, Climate and Energy Bojan Kumer and State Secretary Tina Seršen met with Dejan Paravan, Managing Director of Gen energija.

Minister of Public Administration Sanja Ajanović Hovnik presented the timetable for the reform of the salary system. As she pointed out in a press statement today, negotiations will first start on the elimination of all disparities in the basic salaries, while the new salary scale will be gradually introduced.

The following statement has been issued in the name of the Group of Friends for an Ambitious EU Climate Diplomacy by Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Lithuania, Latvia, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Slovenia and Sweden.

On the occasion of World Social Work Day, we are publishing a message from Minister Luka Mesec. “Our goal is to make social work socially recognised and properly rewarded,” the minister emphasized.

The first meeting of the Steering Committee of the Western Balkans Cyber Capacity Centre (WB3C), launched by the Republic of Slovenia together with the French Republic and Montenegro in 2022, will take place in Paris on 21–22 March.

This year marks the 75th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which proclaims that “all human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights”. That is why, on the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, we issue a call for tolerance, respect and an end to hate speech. This is the only way we can move forward as a society.

Prime Minister Robert Golob and Minister of Finance Klemen Boštjančič held a regular meeting with the Governor and Vice-Governor of the Bank of Slovenia Boštjan Vasle and Primož Dolenc.

The focus of the working meeting between the two ministers, who were joined by the Mayors of Nova Gorica and Gorizia Samo Turel and Rodolfo Ziberna, was on the preparations for the European Capital of Culture with the slogan GO! BORDERLESS.

Marjan Šarec, Minister of Defence, attended a joint meeting of foreign and defence ministers of the Foreign Affairs Council of the European Union in Brussels.

Minister Tanja Fajon attended a regular meeting of the Foreign Affairs Council in Brussels. The main themes were the Russian aggression against Ukraine, and Tunisia. The event was followed by a joint meeting of foreign and defence ministers on EU assistance to Ukraine and the implementation of the Strategic Compass. The ministers also adopted conclusions on Afghanistan and EU priorities in the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe.

The Embassy of the Republic of Slovenia in Tehran will be closed during Persian New Year holidays (Nowrooz) from 21 March to 23 March.

The Embassy of the Republic of Slovenia in Athens, in cooperation with the Municipality of Piraeus and the Municipal Theatre of Piraeus, organised on 16 March 2023 a Slovenian-Greek music evening at the foyer of the Municipal Theatre of Piraeus. The Slovenian and Greek enthusiasts of classical music, members of the diplomatic community as well as members of the Slovenian community in Greece enjoyed a beautiful music evening with the duo Basili-Kosovinc, the Greek cellist Cristina Basili and the Slovenian guitarist and composer Timotej Kosovinc.

Prime Minister Robert Golob and Italian Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation Robert Tajani have pledged ever closer cooperation between the two governments on migration, energy and joint efforts in the Western Balkans.

In an effort to raise the level of communication, promote respectful dialogue and eliminate hate speech, Prime Minister Robert Golob established the Strategic Council for the Prevention of Hate Speech, which held its inaugural meeting today.

With 332 million, the United States of America presents an important market with many opportunities for the Slovenian economy and tourism. It can take several years for companies to successfully penetrate the US market, and Slovenia as a country can open doors through increased promotion.

State Secretary Marko Štucin today hosted the Polish Minister for the EU, Szymon Szynkowski vel Sęk in Ljubljana. In addition to bilateral relations, the talks focused on topical European and international issues.

The Government has adopted a basis for the preparation of a proposal for amendments to the Recovery and Resilience Plan to address the reduction in available funding and the objectives of the REPowerEU plan to reduce dependence on Russian energy. It will be followed by coordination with the European Commission and other stakeholders and the preparation of a proposal to adapt the plan.

At an extraordinary session of the National Assembly, Tanja Fajon, Minister of Foreign and European Affairs, presented the reasons for the rejection of the resolution that would classify Russia as a state sponsor of terrorism. She reiterated Slovenia’s strong support for Ukraine and emphasised that, instead of creating division and separation, all efforts should be directed towards ending Russia's aggression against Ukraine.

Priority Area Coordinators (PAC) of the EU Strategy for the Danube region (EUSDR) met in Maribor. At the meeting, there were 12 EUSDR thematic teams from 14 countries of the region, representatives of the Danube Region Programme, the European Commission, the Danube Youth Council (DYC) and the secretariat of the EUSDR, the Danube Strategy Point. The event was organised by Slovenian EUSDR Presidency with the support of the Danube Strategy Point and the University of Maribor.

At today's regular session, the Government took note of the starting points, priorities and dynamics of the negotiations with the representative trade unions of the public sector. It also adopted the starting points for the adjustment of the Recovery and Resilience Plan and decided to make available EUR 50 million in SID Bank’s loans to companies affected by the energy crisis.

State Secretary for the Establishment of Dialogue with Civil Society and Coordination of Citizens’ Initiatives Maksimiljana Polak and Head of the Office of the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Food Dejan Süč met with representatives of the Society for the Protection of Horses and Other Animals and other representatives of animal advocates.

Minister of Foreign and European Affairs Tanja Fajon met with representatives of the Slovenian national minority in Italy to exchange information and views on current issues relating to the minority, ahead of the visit by the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Italian Republic, Antonio Tajani, to Slovenia on Friday, 17 March. The meeting was also attended by Minister for Slovenians Abroad Matej Arčon.

Minister of Foreign and European Affairs Tanja Fajon handed over two Ljubljana Passenger Transport buses, which the Municipality of Ljubljana donated to Ukraine, to the Ambassador of Ukraine to the Republic of Slovenia, Andriy Taran. “Today we continue our assistance to Ukraine, this time, too, supporting the most vulnerable in the war – children and young people –, so that they can get to school more safely in these difficult circumstances.”

In an effort to adopt balanced and sustainable systemic measures, the Prime Minister of the Republic of Slovenia, Robert Golob, established the Strategic Council for Macroeconomic Issues, which held its inaugural meeting today.

At the meetings of the Government committees, the Government responded to the adopted conclusions of the National Council on the issue of the growing scope of environmentally sensitive areas of permanent grassland, included in the Development Programmes Plan for 2023-2026 a new project titled Construction of the central kitchen in the Nova Gorica General Hospital and increased the value of the project titled Logistics Centre of the National Institute of Public Health (NIJZ).

In the framework of the quadrilateral meeting between Slovenia, Austria, Liechtenstein and Switzerland, Acting Director-General of the Directorate for International Law and Protection of Interests, Dr Marko Rakovec, hosted the meeting of legal advisers. This was the first meeting at the level of legal advisers in the quadrilateral format, which has been held at deputy foreign ministers level since 2011.

Prime Minister Robert Golob hosted the fifth meeting of coalition deputies and Government representatives at Brdo pri Kranju. The coalition continued the discussion on important systemic changes that it has set to implement in this term of office.

Minister Dr Emilija Stojmenova Duh opened her chairmanship of the World Summit on the Information Society in Geneva, the most important global event on the impact of information and communication technologies on the development of society.

The Ministry of Finance has conducted an analysis and completed the groundwork for tax system reorganisation in order to make it more transparent, simple and balanced. We also wish to raise awareness about the need for a new social consensus regarding the reform package and the level of prosperity we are aiming for.

At today's correspondence session, the Government adopted a bill on amendments to the Employment, Self-employment and Work of Foreigners Act and will send it to the National Assembly for consideration under fast-track procedure.

On 13 March, Prime Minister Dr Robert Golob paid an official bilateral visit to Sarajevo. The Prime Minister’s visit follows the European Council’s decision in December to grant Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) candidate status for membership of the European Union. It was Slovenia, including Prime Minister Golob, which actively endeavoured to confirm the geostrategic decision of the European Council last year.

On 2 March 2023 Ambassador Barbara Sušnik presented her credentials to the to the president of Cape Verde.

The last working day of the Consular section of the Embassy of the Republic in Slovenia in Cairo before the holiday season will be Thursday, 13 April 2023.

On 12 March 2023 the conversation between the Slovenian curator and director of the Museum of Contemporary Art in Zagreb, Zdenka Badovinac, and the director of the Inside-out Museum in Beijing, Carol Yinghua Lu, took place online. The event was co-organized by the Embassy of Slovenia in Beijing and the Inside-out Art Museum in Beijing.

On 11 March 2023, in the conference room of the museum Inside-out in Beijing, the second of the Beijing Conversations took place, between Aleksandra Vajd, Slovenian photographer and professor of photography, and Zhou Dengyan, the photography historian on the topic of "Rethinking Photography as a Medium in the Age of Uncertainties."

The Prime Minister, Dr Robert Golob, received representatives of the Glas ljudstva network and listened to their proposals for urgent intervention in the field of health care.

We remove administrative obstacles and speed up the procedures for issuing and serving residence permits and registration certificates. We reintroduce access to Slovenian language courses for all categories of foreigners.

The Justice and Home Affairs Council spent the morning part of the session discussing the situation in the Schengen area.

Acting Director-General of the Directorate for Development Cooperation and Humanitarian Aid Edvin Skrt attended an informal meeting of EU development ministers in Stockholm to discuss global health in the light of the implementation of the new EU Global Health Strategy, the situation in Ukraine, with a focus on its reconstruction, and the reform of international development banks.

At today’s session, the Government adopted a proposal for an amendment to the Foreigners Act, which allows for faster issuance of residence permits. It also began consideration of the proposal for an amendment to the Employment of Foreigners Act and suspended it, as the Economic and Social Council will consider the proposal at tomorrow's meeting before it is finally adopted. It also took note of the strike agreement between the Government and the Education, Science and Culture Trade Union and authorised Minister Papič to sign it.

State Secretary Dr Damir Črnčec was recently a guest on the State of the Alliance programme produced by the Centre for European Policy Analysis (CEPA).

Ms Irena Šinko, Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Food (MAFF), met with the Japanese Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, Mr Tetsuro Nomura. During her visit to Japan, the Minister held several meetings with representatives of different institutions, taking also a field tour of several show cases of good practices in agriculture and in fisheries.

A Memorandum of Understanding has been signed for an investment in a high-tech centre for the production of biosimilars.

The consultation on the EU Economic Governance Framework Reform at Brdo pri Kranju was opened by Prime Minister Robert Golob, who stressed the importance of fiscal rules for the stability of public finances and the need to adapt the rules to new challenges and reality. Fiscal rules need to be reintroduced, and flexibility and a balance between investment and the sustainability of public finances will be key.

State Secretary for the Dialogue with Civil Society and Coordination of Citizens' Initiatives Maksimiljana Polak met with Jadranka Juras, a representative of the Association for the Protection and Assistance of Animals in Need Lajka, and other representatives of animal advocates.

This year's High Security Printing EMEA™ Conference is taking place in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, from 7 to 9 March 2023 and its award for the best ID card of the year was claimed by the Slovenian biometric identity card.