In this issue dedicated to the Olympics, we present our Olympic heroes and the beautiful Olympic Collection and invite you to visit the Slovenia House.

With its largest ever delegation at the Olympic and Paralympic Games in Paris, Slovenia is reaffirming its status as a nation of world-class athletes. There is no doubt that they will excel once again. Slovenia is both a world sporting phenomenon and a sporting superpower.

Slovenia have beaten the odds and qualified for the knockout stage at the Euro 2024 after a goalless draw with England in game three in Group C on 25 June, a historic first for the team.

5 June is World Environment Day; this year, the campaign focuses on seeking solutions for soil restoration, combating desertification and strengthening drought resilience. In Slovenia, water consumption for irrigation is increasing, although the total area of irrigated land has decreased.

The traditional week of forests, which includes several events aimed at presenting the importance of forests and forestry to the general public, begins this week and will take place under the auspices of the Forestry Slovenian Forest Service until next Sunday.

This year marks 250 years since the National and University Library was first established. To this day, the Library remains one of the most important cultural and educational institutions in the country.

On 20 May, we celebrated World Bee Day, which focused this year on involving young people in beekeeping and pollinator conservation efforts, as they are the future caretakers of our environment.

Since the beginning of this year, the National Assembly has been hosting a number of activities and events to mark the 20th anniversary of Slovenia's EU membership.

Countdown to Paris Olympics: The Slovenian Torch Journey Begins! Exactly 100 days before the start of the Olympic Games in Paris, the Slovenian torch will light up. Its journey across all Slovenian municipalities begins in Lendava, starting from the three-border of Slovenia, Hungary, and Croatia.

On Monday, Slovenian Foreign Minister Tanja Fajon began a multi-day visit to Japan, extending her itinerary to include a visit to China.

Nestled in the north-western part of Slovenia lies a true gem of nature – the Triglav National Park.

Since independence, Slovenia has been successfully involved in various international communities, especially at the regional level in Europe.

Celebrating World Theatre Day on March 27th, Slovenia proudly reflects on its thriving theatre scene. In 2022 alone, cultural institutions across the country staged an impressive 7,638 theatrical performances, drawing in over a million spectators, with an average of 137 attendees per show.

The central theme of this year's World Water Day is Water for Peace. The emphasis is on water being not only a resource people use, but also a human right that is inseparable from all aspects of life. Water is absolutely necessary for life and is needed in many activities.

This year the FIS Ski Jumping and Ski Flying World Cup will wrap up the season from 21 to 24 March in Planica.

Last year, almost 1,054,000 women lived in Slovenia. Their mean age was 45.4 years. 42.0% of women aged 15+ were married. 29.9% of women aged 15+ had tertiary education. In the 4th quarter of 2023, women represented 45.3% of persons in employment.

Since its inception, the Erasmus+ program has been hailed as one of the European Union's most successful initiatives, fostering cross-border cooperation and enhancing educational opportunities. This sentiment rings particularly true as Slovenia commemorates its 20th anniversary of EU membership, celebrating the transformative impact of initiatives like Erasmus+.

Looking for a beautiful and affordable country to live the best quality of life? My Dolce Casa research team has analysed the latest data on quality of life and cost of living and applied a formula to identify the countries with the best value for money. Based on this analysis, Slovenia is ranked fifth among EU countries.

On 8 February, Slovenia celebrates Prešeren Day, the Slovenian Cultural Holiday, which is a work-free day.

On Monday and Tuesday, the Global Forum on the Ethics of Artificial Intelligence was held at Brdo pri Kranju. It was organised by the Ministry of Digital Transformation under the patronage of UNESCO.