State Secretary Marko Štucin held a bilateral meeting with his Spanish host Pascual Navarro, Secretary of State for the European Union at the Spanish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, European Union and Cooperation, on the margins of the meeting of Ministers and State Secretaries for European Affairs of the MED-9 informal group in Madrid.

State Secretary Marko Štucin attended the meeting of Ministers and State Secretaries for European Affairs of the MED-9 informal group in Madrid. Participants discussed Mediterranean and topical European issues in the light of the MED-9 Summit to be hosted by Spain in September 2022.

Probably every day of the year is dedicated to a certain topic. Thus, we have days that celebrate mountains, poetry, walks, beer, etc. Ice cream lovers also have their own special day on the 3rd Sunday in July. What do official statistics show about this topic?
EU Member States produced 3 billion litres of ice cream in 2020. The biggest producer was Germany. In 2021, Slovenia imported almost EUR 16 million of ice cream and exported over five times more.

On 4 July 2022, the Ministry of Finance published the first Allocation and Impact Report relating to its inaugural Sovereign Sustainability Bond issued on 1 July 2021. The purpose of this Report is to justify the trust of investors with transparency and disclosure of details.

Minister of the Interior mag. Tatjana Bobnar has attended the Informal meeting of Justice and Home Affairs Ministers in Prague.

Acting Director-General Ambassador Ksenija Škrilec attended an informal meeting of Directors-General for EU Affairs in Prague, organised by the Czech Republic upon its assumption of the Presidency of the Council of the EU.

Consul General Alenka Jerak visited the SNPJ in Enon Valley, PA. Slovenefest 2022 was held there from July 8 through July 10. This event, the biggest SNPJ event of 2022, offered a chance to meet with other Slovenians while listening to Slovenian music and enjoying Slovenian dishes and beverages.

Last year Slovenia imported 82,600 regular and 16,400 electric bicycles. Bicycles were used on 204,000 daily trips, most of the time the purpose was leisure. Most residents of Slovenia with the same first/family name combination as Slovenian cyclists in this year’s Tour de France are Matej Mohorič.

Peter Baroš, until recently the general secretary of SIGIC, the Slovenian Music Information Centre, and a former advisor for the musical arts at the Ministry of Culture, is now joining the team the team of the Minister of Culture Dr Asta Vrečko as an advisor.

Prime Minister Robert Golob and his team of ministers gathered in the national assembly to listen to President Volodymyr Zelensky's address as a sign of their support for and solidarity with the Ukrainian people.

On Monday 4 July, it was 10 years since researchers at the European Organisation for Nuclear Research (CERN) presented to the public the results of an experiment at the Large Hadron Collider pointing to the existence of the Higgs boson. The Jožef Stefan Institute (IJS) also participated in the discovery of this elementary particle and marked the tenth anniversary of this landmark discovery with an event whose honorary patron was Slovenian President Borut Pahor.

At the 50th session of the UN Human Rights Council from 13 June to 8 July 2022, the discussion focused, as is customary for June, on the rights of women and girls and on discrimination based on gender, sexual orientation and gender identity. In the light of the extremely worrying situation of women and girls in Afghanistan, the EU requested that an urgent debate on this topic be held during the session.

Today, the Ministry of the Interior held the first meeting of the Consultative Body on Migration, which was entitled 'A Safe, Solidarity-based and Inclusive Society'. It was attended by representatives of state authorities, NGOs, international organisations and civil society working in the area of migration.

Mihael Kelemina, an art historian and expert in the work of NGOs and freelancers in the culture sector, is joining the team of the Minister of Culture Dr Asta Vrečko as an advisor.

Minister of Foreign Affairs Tanja Fajon paid her first visit to neighbouring Croatia. As well as spending time with her host, Croatian Minister of Foreign and European Affairs Gordan Grlić Radman, she also met with Croatian President Zoran Milanović and Prime Minister Andrej Plenković.

The Minister for Digital Transformation, Dr Emilija Stojmenova Duh, met with the Human Rights Ombudsman, Peter Svetina. The Ombudsman presented the “Annual Report of Human Rights for 2021”, while the Minister presented the relevant digitalisation topics, such as electronic communications and information society.

Minister of the Interior, Tatjana Bobnar met with Nina Gregori, the Executive Director of the EU Agency for Asylum (EUAA), in Ljubljana today.

The 109th Tour de France started in the Danish capital on July 1. On the sidelines of this major cycling event, Slovenia presented itself to the visitors as a country of outstanding cycling competitors and a green, sustainable tourist destination, as well as the host of "L'Etape Slovenia" - the official Tour de France event - which will take place in Slovenia in September.

At today’s session of the Government Committee for State Organisation and Public Affairs, the Government became acquainted with the joint report on volunteering in the Republic of Slovenia for 2020. The Government also adopted a report on the implementation of the Strategy for the Development of Non-Governmental Organisations and Volunteering until 2023 for the period from 2018 to the end of 2020. The Government included in the current Plan of Development Programmes of the Republic of Slovenia 2022-2025 the purchase of business premises for the needs of the judicial authorities in Novo Mesto in the total amount of EUR 855,545.

Vojko Volk, State Secretary for International Affairs at the Office of the Prime Minister, attended, together with President of Kosovo Vjosa Osmani-Sadriuhe, a round table on the future of the Western Balkans, held under the auspices of the Centre for European Future and the Bled Strategic Forum.