Prime Minister Janez Janša today submitted to the National Assembly a nomination of the new Minister of Health; his proposed candidate is Janez Poklukar.

Today, State Secretary Gašper Dovžan hosted János Bóka, State Secretary in charge of EU Affairs at the Hungarian Prime Minister's Office and the new Hungarian Sherpa for EU affairs.

Every day, consular representations of the Republic of Slovenia receive numerous enquiries from Slovenian citizens concerning crossing the state border during the holidays and the winter school break. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs advises again that tourist travel is not a legally permitted reason for entering most of Slovenia's neighbouring countries.

Members of the 12th Slovenian contingent of the Resolute Support Mission are concluding their six-month deployment in Afghanistan.
Within the Train Advise Assist Command - West, they were in charge of human resources and planning tasks at Camp Arena in Herat. In addition, they underwent tactical procedures training, and conducted patrols and reconnaissance in the area of responsibility.
Members of the 12th Slovenian contingent received special acknowledgements for their work, performance and esprit-de-corps showed in cooperation with members of other armed forces.

The Government has decided that from Monday the restriction of movement between municipalities will be lifted and gatherings of up to ten people will be permitted. All primary school students (except those on holiday) will return to school. Also from Monday, all commercial activities will be permitted without restriction.

On Thursday, 11 February 2021, the second meeting of the Committee of Senior Officials of the Adriatic and Ionian Initiative (AII) took place under the Slovenian chairmanship. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the event was held via video conference.

This afternoon’s press conference on the latest situation regarding the COVID-19 pandemic was attended by Aleš Hojs (Minister of the Interior), Jernej Vrtovec (Minister of Infrastructure), Ajda Cuderman (State Secretary at the Ministry of Economic Development and Technology) and Damir Orehovec (State Secretary at the Ministry of Education, Science and Sport).

Today’s press conference on the current situation with regard to COVID-19 was held by Deana Potza of the Health Inspectorate and Deputy Director General of the Police Tomaž Pečjak.

The Acting Director-General for Multilateral Affairs and Development Cooperation, Anita Pipan, attended an informal meeting of EU directors-general for development cooperation. This time, the focus was on the “Team Europe” initiatives, financing for development, the Southern Neighbourhood, and COVID-19 in terms of support for public health.

Celebrated around the world on 11 February, the International Day of Women and Girls in Science is an opportunity to promote full and equal access to and participation in science for women and girls.

In the early morning hours of 11 February, the Slovenian Armed Forces (SAF) delivered a member of the Slovenian UNIFIL contingent with a severe course of the COVID-19 disease from Lebanon to Slovenia. During the flight, the SAF member was accompanied by the SAF chief physician.
The flight with the Falcon aircraft was smooth. After landing at Brnik airport, the Military Medical Unit ambulance transported the infected SAF member to the Dr Peter Držaj hospital in Ljubljana for further treatment. Two members of the SAF Veterinary Unit disinfected the aircraft all the equipment at the airport.
The United Nations operation UNIFIL in Lebanon includes six members the Slovenian Armed Forces. The other five contingent members tested negative for coronavirus infection. They are healthy and continue to perform tasks in the area of operations in southern Lebanon.

A number of media outlets today summed up the untrue statements of the Slovenian Press Agency (STA) in connection with the Slovenian Recovery and Resilience Plan (RRP). STA citing unofficial information reported that according to the European Commission Slovenia’s RRP is among the least prepared.

Today’s press conference on the current situation with regard to COVID-19 was held by Nuška Čakš Jager, Deputy Director of the Centre for Communicable Diseases at the National Institute of Public Health (NIJZ), Marta Grgič Vitek, National Vaccination Programme Coordinator at the NIJZ, and Maja Ravnikar, Director of the National Institute of Biology.

Today's press conference on the current COVID-19 situation was attended by the State Secretary at the Ministry of Health, Marija Magajne, the Director of the National Laboratory of Health, Environment and Food, Tjaša Žohar Čretnik, a paediatrician at the Division of Paediatrics of the Ljubljana University Medical Centre, Tadej Avčin, and Mojca Juriševič from the Department of fundamental pedagogical studies at the Faculty of Education in Ljubljana.

Minister without portfolio, responsible for Development and Cohesion Policy Zvone Černač today gave opening remarks at the online conference Zlati kamen (Golden Stone). This year's conference took place amid intense preparations for the next programming period and drafting of the national recovery and resilience plan. The minister underlined that the outcome of MFF negotiations was ''best possible so far'', bringing extensive additional funding to the table to help the country get back on its feet after COVID-19 crisis.

Government Office for Development and European Cohesion policy has issued a funding decision for the Call for proposals for demonstration projects of smart cities and communities creation - JR PMIS. The call for proposals makes a total of EUR 8 million available, of which EUR 6.4 million comes from the European Regional Development Fund.

Slovenia today celebrates one of its most important holidays, Prešeren Day. To mark the occasion, Minister of Foreign Affairs Anže Logar donated the book I Saw Her That Night by Drago Jančar, one of the most renowned and most widely translated contemporary Slovenian authors, to the Doyen of the Diplomatic Corps in Slovenia, the Apostolic Nuncio to Slovenia, Archbishop Jean-Marie Speich, at Strmol Castle.

Today, a special Etihad Airways aircraft from the United Arab Emirates landed in Slovenia, carrying seven tons of protective equipment to combat the COVID-19 pandemic. State Secretary at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Stanislav Raščan, and Deputy Director-General of the Administration for Civil Protection and Disaster Relief, Stanislav Lotrič, thanked the Ambassador of the United Arab Emirates, Ibrahim Salim Mohamed Al Musharrakh, for the generous donation.

Due to the epidemiological situation, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs celebrates this year’s Day of Culture in virtual format. In the year of Slovenia’s Presidency of the Council of the European Union, in Trio with Germany and Portugal, this day is dedicated to Slovenian culture in the wider European area. On the 30th anniversary of Slovenia’s gaining independence, special attention is drawn to the role culture played in the formation of our state, its international engagement and recognition.

Message by the Prime Minister of the Republic of Slovenia Janez Janša on Prešeren Day