Foreign Minister Dr Miro Cerar is paying a working visit to Sweden; yesterday, he met Swedish Foreign Minister Ann Linde and Chair of the Committee Andreas Norlén. Today, at the general meeting of the Slovenian Association in Sweden, the Foreign Minister addressed Slovenian compatriots living in Sweden and thanked them for preserving the Slovenian identity and mother tongue.

Foreign Minister Dr Miro Cerar is paying an official visit to Sweden at the invitation of the Swedish Foreign Minister, Ann Linde. He met her and the Speaker of the Riksdag, Andreas Norlén, to discuss the importance of the European future for the Western Balkan countries, sustainable development and EU challenges around the world. At the round table held at the Swedish Institute of International Affairs, Minister Cerar touched on the challenges facing the EU and its relations with partners such as Russia, China, and the United States. He later visited the seat of the Smart City project in Stockholm.

Government Office for Development and European Cohesion Policy, the Managing Authority for the ERDF, the ESF and the Cohesion Fund, has issued a funding decision for the Call for tenders for co-financing of the construction of open next generation broadband networks GOŠO 4. The call for tenders will be published by the Ministry of Public Administration next week. The total amount of funding available for the call for tenders stands at EUR 29.5 million, of which EUR 18.9 million is available for the programme area cohesion region Vzhodna Slovenija, whereas EUR 10.6 million has been earmarked for cohesion region Zahodna Slovenija. The contribution from the ERDF amounts to nearly EUR 23.6 million.

Government Office for Development and European Cohesion Policy, Managing Authority for ERDF, ESF and Cohesion Fund, has issued a grant decision for the project “Construction and reconstruction of community and road infrastructure in Ugar business zone” in Ribnica. The project worth EUR 2.4 million will receive European Regional Development Fund support in the amount of nearly EUR 1.5 million.

The Ministry of Economic Development and Technology was intensively working on facilitating the operation of Slovenian companies through the Amazon Europe online Stores platform. The final solution and launch of the business was announced for November last year, but the setups for the best possible costumer experience resulted in short delay. From this week on Slovenian companies are enabled to launch their business through Amazon Europe.

Slovenia provided a humanitarian contribution of 40,000 euros to the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) for urgent humanitarian aid to Iraq, thus meeting its commitment made during the International Conference for the Reconstruction of Iraq in Kuwait in February 2018.

State Secretary Matej Marn attended the EU General Affairs Council discussing the negotiating framework on the EU Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF) within the preparations for the European Council meeting. The compromise proposal presented by the President of the European Council, Charles Michel, is unfit for Slovenia as it fails to address the country's key negotiation priorities.

During today’s Foreign Affairs Council (FAC) meeting, the Member States discussed strengthening relations between the EU and the African Union, the situation in Libya and closer relations between the EU and India. Before the meeting, the Italian Foreign Minister, Di Maio, hosted an unofficial breakfast with the Albanian Prime Minister, Edi Rama, while a working lunch was intended for talks about EU-India relations with the External Affairs Minister of India, Dr Subrahmanyam Jaishankar.

At the 56th Munich Security Conference, Minister Dr Miro Cerar participated at the round tables on security in the Western Balkans and the Three Seas Initiative. On the margins of the conference, the Minister held bilateral meetings on current international topics with the foreign ministers of Iran, Egypt, Georgia and Croatia, as well as with the Secretary General of the Council of Europe, Marija Pejčinović Burić. The Minister also attended the bilateral meeting of Prime Minister Marjan Šarec with the Prime Minister of Kosovo, Albin Kurti.

The Government took note of the corona virus situation in the People’s Republic of China and decided to send the People’s Republic of China, on the basis of a request submitted through the European Union Civil Protection Mechanism, material assistance in the form of protective masks, cover 25% of transport costs (to the maximum amount of 20,000 EUR), and grant a contribution of 60,000 EUR to the World Health Organisation (WHO) for emergency humanitarian aid.

Slovenia joins the efforts to limit the spread of coronavirus by sending assistance in kind (1.2 million facemasks) to the People’s Republic of China, thus being among the first countries to respond through the EU Civil Protection Mechanism by providing the most generous donation per capita. In addition, Slovenia will also allocate a EUR 60,000 donation to the World Health Organisation.

Government Office for Development and European Cohesion Policy, the Managing Authority for the ERDF, the ESF and the Cohesion Fund, has issued a funding decision for the call for proposals Promotion of cultural and creative industries – Centre for Creativity 2020–2021 which will be published by the Ministry of Culture. The call for proposals makes a total of EUR 2.21 million available for projects; EUR 1.63 million comes from the ERDF.

State Secretary Dobran Božič attended a meeting of the Slavkov format composed of Austria, the Czech Republic and Slovakia in Bratislava today. For the first time, the Slovenian and Croatian state secretaries joined their counterparts in the Slavkov trilateral format for a meeting.

State Secretary Matej Marn held political consultations on current EU issues with the Hungarian Minister of State for EU Affairs, Attila Steiner, in Budapest today.

Elan Ski Day, an economic and promotional event co-organised by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Elan company, took place in Kranjska Gora today. Minister of Foreign Affairs Dr Miro Cerar addressed the participants of the event, intended for foreign diplomats accredited in Slovenia.

During his working visit, State Secretary Dobran Božič held bilateral talks with representatives of the US Administration. He addressed principal issues of common interest, including bilateral political and economic cooperation, NATO, EU-US relations, and individual regional issues, with particular emphasis on the Western Balkans.

Slovenian citizens are advised to postpone all unnecessary travel to China due to the novel Coronavirus 2019-nCoV epidemic and related restrictive measures taken by the Chinese authorities. It is also not recommended to travel into Chinese provinces, where a quarantine or transport limitations and restrictions have been introduced, such as Hubei, Hunan, Henan, Guangdong and Zhejiang.

The Prime Minister of the Republic of Slovenia, Marjan Šarec, met today with the President of the European Council, Charles Michel, in Brussels. The discussion focused on the negotiations regarding the EU's Multiannual Financial Framework for the 2021-2027 period. Over the past week President Michel has been holding bilateral talks with the EU-27 Heads of State and Government, on the basis of which a compromise agreement should be reached on the EU's Multiannual Financial Framework for the 2021-2027 period. To this end, a special European Council meeting will be held on 20 February 2020.

On the occasion of the Slovenian national holiday, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs opened the “Between the Sky and the Earth” exhibition mounted by the students of the Faculty of Architecture. At the same time, the Ministry presented Slovenian priorities for international cultural cooperation for 2020: research as art, intercultural dialogue, European cooperation, and cultural and creative industries.

Government Office for Development and European Cohesion Policy, the Managing Authority for the ERDF, the ESF and the Cohesion Fund, has issued a grant decision for the project Development of pedestrian and cycling infrastructure along the Gregorčič alley. The project budget amounts to EUR 580,000; the Cohesion Fund will contribute over EUR 240,000 under the ITI mechanism.