State Secretary Stanislav Raščan welcomed a delegation of the Uzbekistani Anti-Corruption Agency, led by Akmal Burkhanov.

Due to filming, the archival reading room will be closed on Monday, October 18, between 11:15 a.m. and 1 p.m., and Wednesday, October 20, between 10 a.m. and noon. During these days, work in the reading room and the information room will be interrupted from time to time.
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The new issue of the News from Nuclear Slovenia is published.

As the current holder of the presidency of the Council of the EU, the Republic of Slovenia and the European Centre of Excellence for Countering Hybrid Threats held an online workshop on instrumentalised migration as a hybrid threat, focusing on the case of Belarus. The workshop’s objective was to examine the phenomenon of instrumentalised migration as a hybrid threat, its impact on the security situation in the EU, and to highlight the aims of its key actors.

State Secretary Stanislav Raščan held two separate working meetings with Janez Lenarčič, European Commissioner for Crisis Management, and Jutta Urpilainen, European Commissioner for International Partnerships. Both discussions focused on the implementation of the Slovenian Presidency programme in the field of development cooperation and humanitarian aid, as well as current challenges, including the Afghanistan crisis.

Minister of the Interior Aleš Hojs is participating as a panelist in a high-level conference marking the 10th anniversary of the European Asylum Support Office (EASO). Key topics of discussion include the development of the Common European Asylum System (CEAS) over the last decade and EASO’s role, the situation in the area of international protection in the EU, and the transformation of the Office into the EU Asylum Agency by the end of the year.

At today’s session, the Government of the Republic of Slovenia took note of the information on the issue of extraordinary growth in energy product prices on energy markets. In view of the current situation, Slovenia has called an extraordinary meeting of energy ministers for 26 October to find common solutions that will protect citizens against further price rises. The Government also issued a new regulation on the treatment of unaccompanied minors and adopted a decree on financial assistance to compensate for damage in beekeeping in 2021.

Today, Minister Dr Anže Logar addressed the students of the Diplomatic Academy with an introductory lecture. “Over the past year, Slovenian diplomacy has made major shifts in establishing Slovenia’s firm links with the environments sharing our values and interests,” he told the diplomats at home and abroad.

A two-day international expert conference has been held in Ljubljana on how to facilitate an equal relationship between players in the global market of audiovisual content providers. The development of new technologies and the outbreak of COVID-19 epidemic have led to significant changes in the production and distribution or accessibility of audiovisual works.

Government Office for Development and European Cohesion Policy has approved EU funds for the project COVID19 – Provision of premises for Intermediate Care Department of University Medical Centre Maribor. The EUR 8.9 million project that will be implemented by the Ministry of Health will receive a substantial contribution from the European Regional Development Fund under the React-EU initiative, i.e. EUR 6.8 million. This year alone, Government Office for Development and European Cohesion Policy approved EUR 66 million to help strengthen Slovenia's health sector.

State Secretary Kirbiš Rojs yesterday attended the Podravje Region Development Conference which was held in Lenart v Slovenskih goricah. She talked about the funding opportunities offered by the EU Cohesion Policy 2021-2027 and the Recovery and Resilience Facility.

State Secretary Dr Stanislav Raščan addressed the High-Level Conference on Water and Gender Equality, which aimed at exchanging good practices, opinions and ideas on how to achieve gender equality in the context of water. The conference was organised by Slovenia, the current Chair of the Council of the European Union, together with the UNESCO World Water Assessment Programme and the Women for Water Partnership organisation.

The High-Level Segment meeting as part of the fifteenth Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (COP15) concluded today with the adoption of the Kunming Declaration, by which the Parties to the Convention committed to adopt and implement an ambitious global biodiversity framework. The aim is to stop the loss of biodiversity by 2030 and facilitate its recovery.

Prime Minister Janez Janša attended a plenary session of the European Committee of the Regions via videoconference. The discussion focused on key current topics and issues faced during the Slovenian Presidency of the Council of the EU.

The Government of the Republic of Slovenia has reached all the decisions regarding the appointment of European Delegated Prosecutors from Slovenia within its legal powers and the national part of the appointment procedure prescribed by law.

The Minister of Culture of the Republic of Slovenia Vasko Simoniti opened a conference "Increasing the accessibility and competitiveness of European audiovisual and media content", which took place in Cankarjev dom congress center in Ljubljana as well as online from 12 to 13 October 2021.

On the second day of the Luxembourg meeting, EU agriculture ministers focused on the Green Deal initiatives related to agriculture and forestry. They discussed the new EU Forest Strategy for 2030 and addressed the Fit for 55 legislative package.

EU fisheries ministers reached a political agreement in Luxembourg this morning on the total allowable catch for next year in the Baltic Sea. Already yesterday, the ministers exchanged opinions on consultations on fisheries with the United Kingdom and Norway for 2022.

The virtual meeting of the Parties to the UN Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD COP15), which will take place between 11 and 15 October 2021, will be dedicated to preparations for negotiations on the 2030 and 2050 biodiversity targets, concluding with an in-person meeting next year. Minister of the Environment and Spatial Planning Andrej Vizjak is attending the high-level meeting.

Minister of Foreign Affairs Anže Logar today hosted Deputy Chairperson of the Council of Ministers and Minister of Foreign Affairs of Bosnia and Herzegovina Bisera Turković on a working visit to Slovenia. Their discussion focused on bilateral cooperation in various areas, particularly the economy, and on Slovenia’s support for the European perspective of Bosnia and Herzegovina.