Prime Minister Robert Golob today attended, as a guest of honour, the 26th meeting of businessmen from the Primorska region, which was hosted by the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Primorska at the Vila Vipolže venue in Dobrovo.

The European Commission today published its annual report on the enlargement strategy and progress of candidate countries and potential candidate countries for membership of the European Union. In addition to the strategy, the so-called enlargement package summarises the annual progress of the six Western Balkans countries and Turkey and makes recommendations for the way forward. For Slovenia, the package is particularly important in the part concerning the granting of candidate status to Bosnia and Herzegovina, which Slovenia has been advocating since the European Council meeting last June. Today, the European Commission has made a recommendation on granting the candidate status to this country, which is expected to be decided by EU Member States in December.

As part of the enlargement package, the European Commission today issued a recommendation that Bosnia and Herzegovina be awarded EU candidate status but will have to meet additional requirements before making further steps on the path to the Union. This is the same formula that the Commission has already applied in the case of Ukraine. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs welcomes the recommendation as an important step towards the granting of EU candidate status. In the next stage, this will be decided on by the EU heads of state and government at the European Council.

The Government included the renovation of a section of the Ljubljana - Šiška Retirement Home into the applicable Plan of Development Programmes for the 2022–2025 period.

Ms Irena Šinko, Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Food (MAFF), participated today in the 7th meeting of the ‘Golden Bee Award’ Committee, where the central topic was the approval of the ‘2023 Golden Bee Award’ public tender dossier.

Within the framework of the Czech Presidency of the Council of the European Union, the meeting of Directors-General for the Environment is taking place in Prague, which is also attended by mag. Tanja Bolte, the Acting Director-General of the Environment Directorate. The event is intended to start an international discussion on the environment and be a platform for an exchange of views regarding the recent legislative initiative of the European Commission about nature restoration and harmonisation of plans.

Today on 11 October 2022, Matej Arčon, Minister for Slovenians Abroad, visited the Primorska Technology Park (PTP) in Vrtojba and held a meeting with its Director, mag. Tanja Kožuh. Minister Arčon was accompanied by State Secretary Vesna Humar.

A panel discussion was held in Ig Training Centre (ICZR Ig), Slovenia, on 11th October 2022 as part of the planned project activities within the European Project Safe and Equal in EMErgencies – “SEE ME”.

The European Defence Agency and the Ministry of Defence of the Republic of Slovenia are organising a two-day thematic workshop of the Consultation Forum for Sustainable Energy in the Defence and Security Sector at Grand Hotel Union in Ljubljana. The participants were welcomed by State Secretary for Defence, Dr Damir Črnčec.

On the occasion of today’s World Mental Health Day, the Ministry of Health organised an expert meeting, 'Day of Mental Health', at the Brdo Congress Centre. In the initial part of the meeting, the attendees were addressed by the Minister of Health, Danijel Bešič Loredan, and the Human Rights Ombudsman, Peter Svetina, who presented the challenges of mental health.

Prime Minister Robert Golob today outlined the budget proposal in the National Assembly of the Republic of Slovenia. As a preliminary point, he highlighted the historic moment at which the Government proposed its draft budgets for the next two years. The situation is uncertain due to the COVID and energy crises, the Russian aggression against Ukraine and China's cooling economy: "We can speak of a general economic crisis across Europe."

The Ministry of the Interior began implementing workshops to raise awareness among children and adolescents about human trafficking. This year, the workshops are focusing on ninth-graders in primary schools in the Central Slovenian, Gorenjska, Goriška and Zasavje regions and second-year secondary school students in the Podravje, Pomurje, Koroška and Savinjska regions.

This year's Biwako Biennale is entitled "Origin". With this title, it returns to the origins of the world. The Slovenian artist Ms Eva Petrič is also exhibiting at the Biennale with the artwork "Incubator of E@motions, we all come from this heart...". The heart as the centre of all networks, surrounded by a tree made of Slovenian lace.

During his visit to Japan, Minister of Education, Science and Sport Dr Igor Papič participated at the Science and Technology in Society Forum, which took place from 1 - 4 October 2022.

State Secretary Samuel Žbogar attended the 52nd General Assembly of the Organization of American States (OAS) in Lima, Peru, from 5 to 7 October 2022. Foreign Ministers from North, Central and South America and the Caribbean, as well as permanent observers, held discussions under the title "Together against inequality and discrimination" to reduce social and other inequalities that have been exacerbated in the countries of the Western Hemisphere by the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Geneva-based United Nations Human Rights Council concludes its 51st regular session today. Between 12 September and 7 October 2022, the central body of the UN in the field of human rights addressed the most pressing human rights situations around the world and adopted a number of thematic resolutions. At the meeting, Slovenia presented two initiatives in cooperation with partner countries, an initiative on the human rights of older persons and a resolution on human rights education. Slovenian expert Dr Sancin was elected to the Advisory Committee of the Council.

Today’s discussion focused on the convergence of EU Member States’ positions on energy market reform. As Prime Minister Golob pointed out after the meeting, significant progress was made today in finding a common energy solution for Europe. The starting point for the discussion was the European Commission’s latest proposal, which, according to the Prime Minister, was "a big step in the right direction", as it also contained the conclusions of yesterday’s round table on climate change, energy and environmental challenges, which was chaired by Dr Robert Golob together with his Icelandic counterpart.

State Secretary Marko Štucin addressed participants at the event held at the Faculty of Social Sciences in Ljubljana on the occasion of the 30th anniversary of diplomatic relations between Slovenia and Austria.

The President of the National Assembly, Ms Urška Klakočar Zupančič visited Japan from 26 to 30 September 2022, where she attended the funeral of former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. On behalf of the Republic of Slovenia, she expressed condolences to Prime Minister Kishida, Foreign Minister Hayashi, and Mrs. Akie Abe. The funeral ceremony was also attended by the former Prime Minister of the Republic of Slovenia, Dr Miroslav Cerar.