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Between 5 and 7 October 2025 in Portorož, Slovenia is hosting an informal meeting of MED ministers of agriculture. Today’s conference focused on strengthening the agriculture’s resilience, promoting innovations and implementing measures at the EU level, also from the perspective of the proposals for a Common Agricultural Policy for the period after 2027. The ministers adopted a joint declaration containing key guidelines for the sustainable development of agriculture in the region.

State Secretary Maša Žagar attended the second EU Agriculture and Fisheries Council Meeting under the Danish Presidency. At the meeting, Environment Commissioner Jessika Roswall proposed postponing the implementation of the Regulation on deforestation-free products (EUDR) until the end of 2026, an initiative also supported by Slovenia.

The Agreement on Fisheries Subsidies, adopted at the 12th Ministerial Conference of the World Trade Organization (WTO) in June 2022, entered into force. The Agreement entered into force after it was ratified by a two-thirds majority of WTO members and the instrument of acceptance was deposited. This milestone was reached at the ceremony on 15 September 2025 at the special meeting of the WTO General Council.

The traditional informal meeting of EU ministers responsible for agriculture concludes today in the Danish capital, with State Secretary Maša Žagar also in attendance. This session, held at the invitation of the Danish Minister for Food, Agriculture and Fisheries Jacob Jansen, was dedicated to improving competitiveness and accelerating the green transition of the EU Agrifood Sector.

Mateja Čalušić, Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Food, is hosting a meeting in Maribor of representatives of the member states of the extended Forest Group +, which is chaired by Slovenia this year. At the meeting, Italy and Latvia formally joined the group consisting of the founding members – Austria, Finland, Sweden, Slovenia – and France by officially signing the guidelines.

On 16 July 2025, the European Commission published a proposal for the Multiannual Financial Framework for the period 2028–2034, amounting to 1.26% of the EU27's GNI, or €1,985 billion. The proposal forms the basis for the start of complex negotiations among Member States

On the margins of the meeting of the EU Agricultural and Fisheries Council, a meeting of agriculture ministers of the member states of the informal MED9 Group was held and organised on the initiative of Slovenia last night. The discussion focused on sustainable risk management in agriculture. The meeting provided important guidance for the continued discussion at the informal meeting of agriculture ministers to be held in Slovenia in early October.

Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Food Mateja Čalušić met with European Commissioner for Agriculture and Food Christophe Hansen. One of the main topics of the discussion was the payment of emergency financial aid to farmers because of frost damage in 2024. The European Commission will provide Slovenia with EUR 2.9 million for this purpose.

In celebration of World Bee Day, the fifth Golden Bee Award was presented this year. The winner was announced by the Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Food, Mateja Čalušić, and the golden award was presented by the President of the Republic of Slovenia, Dr Nataša Pirc Musar. This year, the Golden Bee was awarded to the Polish company Osima Future.

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.