The European macro-regional strategy EUSAIR is based on four thematic pillars, and Slovenia, on its behalf the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, with key partners (Public Agency for Promotion of Entrepreneurship and Developing Projects of Municipality of Izola and the Government Office for Development and European Cohesion Policy) is chairing the strategy until the end of May this year – The main topic of the presidency is “green integration” as Slovenia, together with Bosnia and Herzegovina, coordinates the environmental quality pillar, which aims to improve the quality of life on the coast by the common sea – The 6th Annual EUSAIR Forum in May will be organized in a hybrid or fully virtual format, but still rich in content.

Today, at the invitation of Minister of Foreign Affairs Anže Logar, the Romanian Minister of Foreign Affairs Bogdan Lucian Aurescu is paying an official visit to Slovenia. The visit is aimed at strengthening friendly relations between Slovenia and Romania and further deepening their cooperation within regional and international forums as well as on issues that are key to European citizens.

Today, State Secretary Stanislav Raščan took part in a virtual seminar for the listeners of Paraguay's Diplomatic Academy, Institute for Strategic Studies, and National Defence Centre. As the lecture was also an excellent opportunity to establish contacts between the Slovenian and Paraguayan diplomatic academies, Head of the Slovenian Diplomatic Academy Andraž Zidar addressed the participants at the beginning of the event.

The International Research Center on Artificial Intelligence under the auspices of UNESCO (IRCAI), will hold its official launch event on 29-30 March 2021. IRCAI was established by the Government of the Republic of Slovenia and is located at Jožef Stefan Institute in Ljubljana, Slovenia.

Government Office for Development and European Cohesion Policy has approved funding for the project Business Zone Arnovski gozd – expansion. The nearly EUR 3 million development project will be implemented by the Municipality Žalec and supported by the EU, with the contribution from the European Regional Development Fund amounting to almost EUR 1.5 million.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Slovenia and the Embassy of Slovenia in Copenhagen, in cooperation with the Slovenian Chamber of Commerce and Industry and SPIRIT Slovenia, invite you to participate in the UN International Procurement Seminar to take place in virtual format on 16–17 June 2021. This year, the seminar is being organised for a second time, in partnership with Ireland, the Netherlands, Poland and the United Kingdom.

We are pleased to inform you about the launch of the event of the International Research Center on Artificial Intelligence under the auspices of UNESCO (IRCAI), which will take place on 29-30 March 2021. The event will be held online, with the Director-General of UNESCO, Ms. Audrey Azoulay, participating as an introductory speaker on March 29.

State secretary Blaž Košorok today participated in a video conference of transport ministers of the Trio Presidency of Germany, Portugal and Slovenia, which was hosted by the Portuguese Minister of Infrastructure and Housing Pedro Nuno Santos, who currently chairs the meetings of EU transport ministers. The meeting of the transport ministers of the Trio Presidency takes place ahead of an informal video conference of EU transport ministers to be held on Tuesday, 30 March. The Trio Presidency has taken stock of the work of the Portuguese Presidency so far and the developments on individual dossiers considered.

Today, Prime Minister Janez Janša took part in a video conference of the members of the European Council.

Slovenian Prime Minister Janez Janša, Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki, French President Emmanuel Macron, Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babiš, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, Slovak Prime Minister Igor Matovič and Romanian Prime Minister Florin Cîțu have written a letter to the President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen about the role of nuclear energy in the EU climate and energy policy.

State Secretary Stanislav Raščan today hosted the Minister of State for Trade Policy in the Department for International Trade of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland Greg Hands, on his two-day official visit to Slovenia.

Prime Minister Janez Janša today met with President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen via a video conference.

Today’s press on the current situation with the COVID-19 disease was attended by Janez Poklukar, the Minister of Health, Tjaša Žohar Čretnik, Director of the National Laboratory of Health, Environment and Food, Deana Potza from the Health Inspectorate, and Tomaž Pečjak, Deputy Director General of the Police.

The Ministry of Culture leads the project of drafting the nomination of intangible heritage unit of beekeeping in Slovenia for inscription on UNESCO’s Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.

Minister Dr Jože Podgoršek addressed this morning via videoconference the participants of the online conference on the development potential in agriculture entitled "AgriTech – Discover the potential of Slovenia and Japan in agriculture". The event was organised by the Embassy of the Republic of Slovenia in Tokyo, SPIRIT Slovenia Public Agency, and Japan's Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries.

The State Secretary at the Ministry of the Environment and Spatial Planning, Dr Metka Gorišek, met with the Polish Ambassador to Slovenia, H.E. Dr Krzysztof Olendzki.

Prime Minister Janez Janša addressed a letter to President Borut Pahor proposing that a meeting with all leaders of parliamentary parties as well as with heads of deputy groups, Ministry of Health and advisory group is convened as soon as possible.

Slovenia's Chairmanship of the Adriatic and Ionian Initiative (AII), in cooperation with the Forum of the Adriatic and Ionian Chambers of Commerce and AII Permanent Secretariat, organised a round table on “Equal opportunities in public administration, academia, and business”. The starting point for the organisation of the round table was the second study on equal opportunities in Slovenian diplomacy, which was recently concluded and conducted by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in collaboration with Icelandic colleagues.

Slovenian government has adopted the Report on the Implementation of EU Cohesion Policy 2014-2020 for the Investment in Growth and Jobs Goal for the Period January 2014-End of December 2020 and submitted it to the National Assembly.

At today's session, the Government adopted the Ordinance amending the Ordinance on the temporary partial restriction of movement of people and on the prohibition of gathering of people to prevent the spread of COVID-19, which stipulates that the movement of people is again restricted to within the region in the Obalno-kraška region, the Goriška region and the Koroška region. Movement is now restricted at night from 22:00 to 5:00. By way of the amendment, a negative RAT test is no longer listed among the general exceptions for entry into Slovenia. The Government also supplemented the national COVID-19 vaccination strategy.