The visit also included courtesy calls at the Ministry for Digital Transformation, the Jožef Stefan Institute, the International Centre for Artificial Intelligence (IRCAI), and the Faculty of Computer and Information Science in Ljubljana, where the guests were acquainted with the activities of the laboratories for AI, Algorithmics and Bioinformatics and the Cognitive modelling laboratory. On 15 October, the representatives paid a visit to the Institute of Information Sciences in Maribor, where they learned about the VEGA supercomputer, and proceeded to visit also the Faculty of Computer Science in Maribor.

The meetings were organised as part of a five-day visit to Slovenia and Spain aimed at capacity building of Latin American countries in the field of digitalisation and AI. It was carried out in the framework of the EU Technical Assistance to Third Countries (TAIEX) and co-organised by the Ministry of Digital Transformation. Two years ago, Slovenia and Spain were among the most vocal countries stimulating a debate on how the EU could work more closely with global partners in the field of AI, with a focus on Latin American countries.

Slovenia started to cooperate closely with Latin America and the Caribbean in the field of digitalisation and AI already during its Presidency of the EU Council (2021), when it collaborated with the European Commission to set up a Digital for Development Hub (D4D) for Latin America and the Caribbean operating in the framework of a broader EU-LAC Digital Alliance. Slovenia also co-chairs the Working Group on Artificial Intelligence (WG AI).

During the meeting at the Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs, the participants expressed a strong interest in AI learning processes and the challenges of regulating the use and operation of AI in society.