Negotiators from the Council and the European Parliament reached a provisional agreement on a new law to promote the availability of data and build a trustworthy environment to facilitate its use for research and the creation of innovative new services and products.

Today, the Slovenian Minister of Public Administration, Boštjan Koritnik, attended a ministerial meeting of the Global Partnership on Artificial Intelligence (GPAI) in Paris. Based on the guidelines harmonised at the meeting, the GPAI is seeking to contribute to the responsible development, use and management of human-centred AI systems.

Under the Slovenian Presidency, a global conference is taking place today and tomorrow, which for the first time is discussing government governance in terms of innovation, drawing-up better legislation and improving the quality of the public sector. Slovenia, together with the OECD, presented for the first time the results of a survey on the ageing of the workforce and attracting and retaining talent.

At the meeting of the Competitiveness Council held on 29 September 2021, the ministers responsible for industry and the internal market discussed the impact of the “Fit for 55” package on the competitiveness of EU industry, and the importance of better regulation for the competitiveness of the European Union and the functioning of the single market.

On Thursday, 23 September 2021, a meeting of the European Personnel Selection Office (EPSO) was held as part of the events of the Slovenian Presidency of the Council of the EU. The meeting was organized by the Office together with Slovenia as the presiding country.

Under the Slovenian Presidency of the Council of the EU, the Ministry of Public Administration and the European Commission are organising a high-level conference on artificial intelligence as a hybrid event on 14 and 15 September 2021 at Brdo pri Kranju. Via an online platform, all interested stakeholders worldwide striving to better understand how to live with AI and how to manage it in the future can participate in the conference.

As part of the Slovenian Presidency of the Council of the EU, the Government Information Security Office, in cooperation with the Ministry of Public Administration and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, organised a cybersecurity conference in Bled on 3 September 2021, which was held in a hybrid form.

This was the main topic discussed by the participants at the Cybersecurity Conference today in Bled, which was organised by the Government Information Security Office in cooperation with the Ministry of Public Administration as part of the Slovenian Presidency of the Council of the EU. Minister of Public Administration Boštjan Koritnik and Acting Director of the Government Information Security Office Uroš Svete opened the conference by addressing the participants.

Mr Boštjan Koritnik, Minister of Public Administration, will present the Slovenian Presidency’s sectoral programme and priorities in the areas of digitalisation, cybersecurity and better regulation at the July meetings of the European Parliament’s committees. Today he appeared before the Committee on the Internal Market and Consumer Protection (IMCO) to present priorities in the areas of artificial intelligence and digital services.

Today, the Ministry of Public Administration organised a conference of senior officials from the Member States of the European Union and the candidate countries of the Western Balkans entitled ‘The European Union as a community of people’. It is the first in a series of events organised by the Ministry under the Presidency of the Council of the EU. Boštjan Koritnik, Minister of Public Administration, initially addressed the participants.

As part of the ministerial meeting of the Informal Network of Public Administrations of the EU Member States (EUPAN) in Lisbon, today, Minister of Public Administration Boštjan Koritnik met with Alexandra Leitão, Portuguese Minister for the Modernisation of the State Administration. They talked about the EU Leadership Exchange Programme. Minister Koritnik also presented the priorities of the Slovenian Presidency of the Council of the EU.

Today, Minister of Public Administration Boštjan Koritnik attended the meeting of Ministers of the Informal Network of Public Administrations of the EU Member States (EUPAN) in Lisbon. He appeared as a keynote speaker on the panel discussing skills, leadership and mobility in public administration.

Today, the Minister of Public Administration Boštjan Koritnik attended the EU Telecommunications Council meeting in Luxembourg, where he presented the priorities of the Slovenian Presidency in the field of digitisation. At the meeting, ministers took note of the state of play of legislative proposals on data management, cyber security, ePrivacy, roaming on mobile communications networks in the European Union (roaming) and artificial intelligence. There was also a political debate on the European Union’s digital future.

On the second day of the two-day official visit to Brussels, Minister of Public Administration Boštjan Koritnik met with the Executive Vice-President of the European Commission Margrethe Vestager and the Director-General for Transport, Energy, Environment and Education (DG TREE) Peter Javorčik. The purpose of the two-day visit is part of Slovenia’s preparations for the Presidency to the Council of EU and present priorities in the field of digitisation or digital technologies, artificial intelligence and cybersecurity.

Boštjan Koritnik, the Minister of Public Administration, is on a two-day official visit to Brussels in preparation for the Slovenian Presidency of the EU Council in 2021. On the first day of his visit, he met with the EU Internal Market Commissioner Thierry Breton, representatives of the European Parliament Committee on Industry, Research and Energy (ITRE) and Slovenian members of the European Parliament. The purpose of the meeting was to present the priorities of the Slovenian Presidency in the field of digitisation or digital technologies, artificial intelligence and cyber security.

The Minister of Public Administration, Boštjan Koritnik, delivered a video address this morning at High-level thematic debate on digital cooperation and connectivity, held by the United Nations (UN).

On Tuesday, 23 March 2021, the Minister of Public Administration Boštjan Koritnik attended the World Summit on the Information Society 2021 (WSIS Forum), hosted by: The International Telecommunication Union (ITU), the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO), the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) and the United Nations Software Developer (UNDP).

On Friday, 19 March 2021, the Minister of Public Administration Boštjan Koritnik participated in the traditional meeting entitled Digital Day, which is attended annually by EU ministers responsible for digitisation.

In cooperation with the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), the Ministry of Public Administration organised the Regional Forum for Europe on Meaningful Connectivity on 8 and 9 March 2021. At the event, Minister of Public Administration Boštjan Koritnik, who wrote a blog post for ITU News prior to this event, held the opening address. Acting Director-General of the Information Society and Informatics Directorate Peter Grum also participated at the event's first session on the digital divide and inclusive connectivity in Europe.

In cooperation with the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), the Ministry of Public Administration will hold the Regional Forum for Europe on Meaningful Connectivity on 8 and 9 March 2021. At the event, Minister of Public Administration Boštjan Koritnik, who wrote a blog post for ITU News prior to this event, will hold the opening address. He expressed his thoughts on the development and progress of digitalisation in Slovenia and described how and where digital technology is used in Slovenia to combat the COVID-19 epidemic.