At the invitation of the rector of the University of Maribor, Minister Zvone Černač attended the event Cohesion region Vzhodna Slovenija – yesterday, today, tomorrow, which was organised by the University of Maribor in cooperation with the Development Council of cohesion region Vzhodna Slovenija and the Urban Municipality of Maribor.  

The ceremony of unveiling the University platform was an introduction to the event with the roundtable titled Development challenges in the cohesion region Vzhodna Slovenija being the centre of the event. In the frame of the roundtable, the Minister presented the importance and the amount of the available EU funding by highlighting individual most successful and recognised projects that had received EU funding. The Minister also underlined the role EU funds play in Slovenia’s development, and spoke in depth of the dynamic and the content-related key elements of EU funds absorption in the future. He explained that EU funds should not focus solely on closing regional development gaps but also on accelerating the development of the entire country. Slovenia can achieve much more by applying smart planning methods and by taking the economic spending approach. By 2030, Slovenia will join the most successful countries.        

While in Maribor, the Minister also visited the Maribor University Medical Centre focusing on the works for arranging the Department of Pulmonary Diseases. Relocation of the department from the facility in Slivniško Pohorje has received React-EU funding.