State Secretary Stanislav Raščan received Ambassador of Mongolia Battungalag Gankhuurai on a farewell visit at the end of her term of office at the Embassy in Vienna accredited to Slovenia.

The human race against the climate crisis clock is the theme of this year’s World Humanitarian Day, which is being marked today. To save our planet from the devastating and lasting effect of climate change, this year’s humanitarian day is dedicated to raising public awareness about humanitarian workers and their efforts aimed at alleviating the effects of climate change and about the victims who lost everything as a consequence.

Today, the Slovenian Presidency of the Council of the EU organised an extraordinary videoconference meeting of interior ministers within the framework of the Council's crisis response mechanism (IPCR), which was chaired by Minister of the Interior Aleš Hojs. The ministers expressed solidarity with the affected states - Latvia, Lithuania and Poland - and supported additional assistance to the member states at this section of the external EU border.

Minister of Foreign Affairs Anže Logar today attended an extraordinary meeting of EU foreign ministers on the latest developments in Afghanistan via video conference. The focus was placed on the EU’s coordination in evacuating European citizens and local Afghan staff who supported member states and the EU during their activities in Afghanistan.

Prime Minister Janez Janša and Minister of Finance Andrej Šircelj today met with members of the Fiscal Council. On behalf of the Fiscal Council, the meeting was attended by the President of the Fiscal Council, Dr Davorin Kračun, two members of the Fiscal Council, Alenka Jerkič and Tomaž Perše, and the head of the Fiscal Council's Analysis Service, Aleš Delakorda. The discussion focused on the public finance situation and economic policy both in Slovenia and the European Union.

Government Office for Development and European Cohesion Policy has approved EU funding for the project Arrangement of sustainable mobility in the city centre of Urban Municipality Slovenj Gradec. The project worth EUR 1.5 million will be implemented by the Urban Municipality Slovenj Gradec and will receive EU support with the contribution from the Cohesion Fund standing at EUR 633 thousand.

Prekmurje in the heart

"Again I hear the song amid the plains", says a line in the poem by Feri Lainšček, which we read in the middle of the wonderful Prekmurje landscape which is so special, dreamlike and beautiful. A landscape that makes the poet's soul sing and sets his heart to play. It is not only the poet who feels this way but also all the people of Prekmurje, who were cut off from the Slovenian homeland for nearly 900 years. Given this historical fact it is almost unbelievable that throughout those nine long centuries, and under the influence of other nations they preserved the Slovenian language, Slovenian culture and the ideas of a unified state and of Slovenian identity. That they have stood up and remained Slovenians.

Prime Minister Janez Janša and his wife Urška Bačovnik Janša today attended the main ceremony to mark the Day of the Unification of Prekmurje Slovenes with the Mother Nation, which took place in the castle courtyard in Beltinci.

Today, Prime Minister Janez Janša visited the Žale Cemetery in Ljubljana and laid a wreath at the tomb of Dr Andrej Bajuk, former prime minister, minister, and the president of the Nova Slovenija political party, marking the 10th anniversary of his death.

David Sipoš is known to the Slovenian public as a film-maker and director of documentary feature films. He is a recipient of several national and international film festival awards.

Today, Prime Minister Janez Janša and his Croatian counterpart Andrej Plenković spoke on the phone about foreign policy issues. They discussed measures to protect the EU's external borders against the rising wave of illegal migrations, the need for rapid expansion of the Schengen zone, the situation in Afghanistan, and the preparations for the Bled Strategic Forum 2021.

Slovenia is introducing the Passenger Locator Form for passengers travelling by airplane and ship on 16 August to facilitate contact tracing. Every passenger will be asked to fill out his or her own form, including passengers travelling together as a family or in a group. Passengers in transit, who will remain in the airport's transit area (unless they should decide to leave the airport area for whatever reason) and airplane or ship crewmembers will not be asked to fill out the form.

The Minister of Digital Transformation, Mark Boris Andrijanič, today attended the opening of the travelling mobile classroom named Simbioza Mobiln@. It is the latest acquisition that will bring, through modern digital educational initiatives, the use of ICT tools closer to senior citizens who want to learn how to use computers and smartphones.

State Secretary Stanislav Raščan attended the introductory part of the first virtual European archival symposium entitled Digital Transformation in Archival Science. Dieter Schlenker, Director of the Historical Archives of the European Union, Peter Pavel Klasinc, Head of Archival Sciences Alma Mater Europea, and Bojan Cvelfar from the Archives of the Republic of Slovenia also took part in the introductory part of the meeting.

All passengers entering Slovenia by aircraft or cruise ship will have to fill out a Digital Passenger Locator Form (electronic PLF form - dPLF) from 16 August 2021 before entering the country.

Government Office for Development and European Cohesion Policy has approved EU funding for the project Revitalising part of the coastal area between the outfall of the Badaševica and Žusterna. The project worth EUR 4.5 million will be implemented by Urban Municipality Koper under the Sustainable Urban Strategy of Koper and will receive EU support with the contribution from the European Regional Development Fund standing at EUR 616 thousand.

Yesterday, in an audio-video conference, the Minister of Digital Transformation Mark Boris Andrijanič met with the Microsoft's regional representatives for services from Central and Eastern Europe. The topic of the conversation was the search for solutions in the field of improving digital skills in the Republic of Slovenia and the use of advanced technologies such as artificial intelligence. These will make it possible to simplify the user experience of citizens in the near future.

State Secretary Stanislav Raščan held a video conference with the Undersecretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Mexico, Carmen Moreno.

The following is an interview with Prime Minister Janez Janša for the Polish news agency PAP. In the interview, the Prime Minister spoke about the situation in the judiciary, the fact that he was a political prisoner twice, the second time during democracy, the reform of judicial legislation, the need for self-reflection of the judiciary, respect for EU law and the future of the EU.

Japan-Slovenia Relations

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