Slovenia will award one scholarship for nationals of Nepal for master degree programme in Slovenia for the academic year 2023/2024.

On February 5 we celebrated Prešeren Day in Cleveland. February 8 marks the anniversary of death of France Prešeren, the greatest Slovenian poet, who died in 1849. This presentation featured Slovenian literature, poetry, and music.

The Republic of Türkiye requested assistance through the EU Civil Protection Mechanism in the aftermath of a powerful earthquake with a magnitude of 7.8 that struck on 6 February at 2:17 European time, followed by a number of aftershocks. A total of 10 provinces were affected, and according to media reports, the number of dead, injured and missing people is rising rapidly, with an estimated 5 million people living within a 5km radius of the earthquake's epicentre.

At today's correspondence session, the Government decided that Slovenia will send experts to Türkiye to assess the situation and coordinate rescue operations following the catastrophic earthquake.

Prime Minister Robert Golob today sent a proposal for a new Minister of the Interior to the National Assembly, nominating Boštjan Poklukar as the candidate.

Today, on the basis of correspondence on the Green Deal Industrial Plan, Matjaž Han, Minister of the Economy, Tourism and Sport, and Margrethe Vestager, European Commissioner for Competition and Executive Vice President of the European Commission for A Europe Fit for the Digital Age, met by video call. The topic of discussion were the specific issues Slovenia is facing first due to the healthcare crisis and then the energy crisis.

Today, the Minister of Labour, Family, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities, Luka Mesec, responded to the current issue of kindergarten prices. The Minister personally supports the idea of free kindergartens, but stresses that such a measure would require an additional €200 million.

Safer Internet Day is celebrated on 7 February. This year, the focus in Slovenia is on the issue of inappropriate online content. Children are among the most at-risk users of the internet, mainly because of their youth, inexperience, curiosity and naivety.

At the invitation of the Hungarian Minister of Defence, Kristóf Szalay Bobrovnický, Minister of Defence Marjan Šarec paid a two-day official visit to Budapest. The two ministers called for further strengthening of cooperation in the defence and military fields.

The Government laid down the text of the proposed Act Amending the Administrative Dispute Act and withdrew the proposed Act on the temporary bonus for judges and state prosecutors from the legislative procedure.

State Secretary Dr Branko Lobnikar attended a ministerial conference in Sofia to discuss measures for more effective management of the external borders of the European Union.

Prime Minister Dr Robert Golob hosted the fourth meeting of coalition deputies and the government team at Brdo pri Kranju. The coalition continued the discussion of the Government’s priority tasks and starting points for this year’s reforms. The meeting focused on the reform of the public sector salary system and the housing policy. The two objectives are that no salaries in the public sector are to be below the minimum wage and the housing stock should be more affordable for all social groups.

At today's correspondence session, the Government of the Republic of Slovenia approved the proposed amendments to the Act amending the State Administration Act, which, in addition to a more precise delimitation of the subject areas, tasks and system competences of ministries (in accordance with the Government of the Republic of Slovenia Act), also propose the possibility of transferring local competences from one administrative unit to another administrative unit in the event of a large number of cases that cannot be resolved within a reasonable time by the locally competent administrative unit.

The Planica Nordic Centre hosted the Business-to-Diplomacy event entitled “Planica”, which was jointly organised by the Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs and the Ski Association of Slovenia. The event was attended by around 40 foreign ambassadors accredited to the Republic of Slovenia, both resident and non-resident, and representatives of Slovenian companies and institutions from the sports sector.

Prime Minister Robert Golob met with João Gomes Cravinho, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Portuguese Republic, before the coalition summit. Their talks focused on the key topics of the agenda of the European Union. The Portuguese foreign minister expressed his country’s full support for Slovenia’s candidacy for non-permanent membership of the UN Security Council.

This year's World Wetlands Day, celebrated annually on 2 February, is being celebrated under the slogan: “It’s Time for Wetland Restoration!”

The purpose of the two-day visit is to strengthen ties of friendship and cooperation between the two countries, with an emphasis on establishing concrete forms of cooperation in the field of defence. In the light of the latter, the two ministers signed an Agreement on cooperation in the field of defence, which will serve as the basis for the preparation of a further programme.

The two-page report of the commander of the village guard in Borovnica covers a period of just two weeks at the end of 1942 and the start of 1943. Although the famous Borovnica viaduct was still standing at that time, the inhabitants of the valley below still seemed to find themselves on different sides. However, the situation and relations were not as black and white as it may appear. This month's archivalia reveals the complexity of the events taking place eighty years ago, which we nowadays often tend to overloook.

The Strategic Council for Nutrition met today at its second meeting. The members of the council set the starting points for further work in the field of food price comparison and the reform of the student food voucher system. Due to the extensive discussion, the agenda items relating to the presentation of Slovenia’s current national nutritional guidelines and the presentation of the Nordic guidelines were moved to the next meeting.

On 18 January 2023, Ambassador Barbara Sušnik presented her Letters of Credence to the Grand Duke of Luxembourg.