Minister Jože Podgoršek today attended the 13th Berlin Agriculture Ministers’ Conference at the Global Forum For Food And Agriculture (GFFA). The GFFA, which began on Monday and concluded with today’s ministerial conference, features a series of political and professional events, discussions and meetings that take place every year on the fringes of the Green Week fair. The ministerial conference welcomed almost 100 agriculture ministers and their deputies from around the world along with the highest representatives of all major international institutions and international NGOs. The forum was hosted by the German Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture with the central topic of "How to Feed the World in Times of Pandemics and Climate Change?"

Today’s press conference on the current situation regarding COVID-19 was attended by Nuška Čakš Jager, Deputy Head of the Centre for Communicable Diseases at the National Institute of Public Health, and Tjaša Žohar Čretnik, Director of the National Laboratory of Health, Environment and Food.

In 2005, the United Nations General Assembly proclaimed 27 January, the anniversary of the liberation of the Nazi Concentration and Extermination Camp of Auschwitz-Birkenau in 1945, as International Holocaust Remembrance Day. This day has been marked by the international community for 16 years now, and in Slovenia since 2008.

The developments in Yugoslavia on Sunday, 27 January, were primarily marked by the consequences of the decisions reached at the Friday and Saturday sessions of the Presidency of the SFRY. This at least temporarily removed the threat of an armed conflict starting in Yugoslavia. In addition, Kiro Gligorov became the first democratically elected president of Macedonia on that day. In the international arena, public attention around the globe continued to be focused primarily on the deteriorating situation in the Middle East.

State Secretary Raščan participated in the virtual Replenishment Conference for the United Nations Peacebuilding Fund. This financial instrument of the Peacebuilding Commission was created by the UN General Assembly and the Security Council in 2005 to support peace efforts in post-conflict countries. Thus far, the Peacebuilding Fund has supported peacebuilding programmes in more than 40 countries around the world, including the Western Balkans.

The Republic of Slovenia, rated A3 (stable) / AA-(stable) / A (stable), has mandated BNP Paribas, Deutsche Bank, Goldman Sachs Bank Europe SE and HSBC to lead manage a new 60-year SLOREP benchmark due March 2081. The transaction will be Regulation S in dematerialized registered form. The deal is expected to be launched in the near future, subject to market conditions. Relevant stabilization regulations apply.

Attending today’s press conference on the latest situation regarding COVID-19 were the Minister of Education, Science and Sport Simona Kustec, Gregor Pečan, president of the Association of Head Teachers and psychologist Andreja Poljanec.

Today, Minister of the Interior Aleš Hojs participated in a video conference meeting of Ministers for Home Affairs of the Germany-Portugal-Slovenia Trio Presidency, hosted by his Portuguese counterpart Eduardo Cabrita, currently presiding over the Justice and Home Affairs Council.

Minister of the Interior Aleš Hojs attended a virtual meeting of the EU Internet Forum, convened by the European Commission.

Today’s press conference on the current situation regarding COVID-19 was attended by State Secretary at the Ministry of Health Alenka Forte, Director of the National Education Institute Vinko Logaj, clinical psychologist Mateja Hudoklin, Director of the Counselling Centre for Children, Adolescents and Parents, and Maja Drobnič Radobuljac, Head of the Intensive Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Unit at the Ljubljana University Psychiatric Clinic.

After attending the Foreign Affairs Council meeting in Brussels, Foreign Minister Anže Logar met with his host Sophie Wilmès, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs, European Affairs and Foreign Trade and the Federal Cultural Institutions, for a bilateral visit to the Kingdom of Belgium. The ministers welcomed the development of Slovenian-Belgian relations and confirmed their mutual interest in further consolidating them at the bilateral, European, and multilateral levels.

Today, Minister of Foreign Affairs Anže Logar attended the regular meeting of the EU Foreign Affairs Council (FAC). The discussion focused on three key topics – challenges and cooperation in the Indo-Pacific region, the security situation in Asia, climate and energy diplomacy, and possibilities for cooperation between the EU and the UK in common foreign and security policy.

Prime Minister Janez Janša spoke about the UK coronavirus variant in Slovenia at today’s press conference, and the related measures which need to be adopted.

Government Office for Development and European Cohesion Policy has issued a financial support decision for the project “Municipal infrastructure of the Sevnica Business Zone”. The project worth EUR 1.4 million will be implemented by the Municipality Sevnica and will receive EUR 831,000 of European Regional Development Fund support.

Today, Minister of Foreign Affairs Anže Logar was on a working visit to Croatia and made his first stop in the town of Petrinja, which was hit by a devastating earthquake on 29 December last year. Together with his host, Minister of Foreign and European Affairs Goran Grlić Radman, he went to see for himself the current situation on the ground and took note of the activities to help those affected by the earthquake. Minister Logar also paid a visit to one of the families living in mobile homes donated by the Republic of Slovenia.

Today’s press conference on the current situation regarding Covid-19 will be attended by Director-General of the Public Health Directorate Vesna Kerstin Petrič and Anton Gradišek of the Jožef Stefan Institute.

On Thursday, Prime Minister Janez Janša attended a video conference of the members of the European Council. European heads of state exchanged best practices related to the measures adopted to contain the coronavirus, and discussed prospects for the coming weeks.

Slovenian Permanent Representative to the UN in Geneva Ambassador Sabina R. Stadler handed over today a high-tech disinfection system, to the World Health Organization in Geneva. The device will be used at the WHO Geneva headquarters, where it will provide additional protection to its employees and visitors.

This afternoon’s press conference on the latest situation with regard to the COVID-19 pandemic was attended by Janez Cigler Kralj, Minister of Labour, Family, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities, Deana Potza of the Health Inspectorate and Tomaž Pečjak, Deputy Director General of the Police.

The press conference on the current COVID-19 situation was attended by Minister of Education, Science and Sport Simona Kustec, Minister of Infrastructure Jernej Vrtovec and State Secretary at the Ministry of Economic Development and Technology Simon Zajc.