The International Labour Day is the right time to reflect on what is happening on Slovenian labour market.

In Sunday’s elections, the voters chose who they want in Deputy seats in the National Assembly for the next four years. The final results of the parliamentary elections are yet to be published.

State Secretary Dr Stanislav Raščan received the Special Representative for 16+1 Cooperation, Ambassador Huo Yuzhen.

At today’s session, the Government adopted the Stability Programme and the 2022 National Reform Programme. It extended the currently applicable Decree on excise duty on energy products and the validity of the Decree fixing the excise duty level for electricity.

Standing in front of the Paediatric Clinic in Ljubljana along with Miroslav Petrovec from the Institute of Microbiology and Immunology and paediatrician and infectious disease specialist Tatjana Mrvič, the Minister of Health Janez Poklukar gave a statement regarding the severe acute hepatitis of unknown origin in children.

Foreign Minister Dr Anže Logar took part in the Raisina Dialogue 2022 conference held in New Delhi on 25–27 April, met with Indian Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar and held other bilateral talks.

On 26–27 April 2022, State Secretary Dr Stanislav Raščan took part in the ECOSOC Forum on Financing for Development in New York, which highlighted the need to deliver on the central promise of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development on poverty eradication. He also attended the High-Level Meeting of the UN General Assembly on Financing for Peacebuilding and held a number of bilateral meetings.

Today, Prime Minister Janez Janša attended the state ceremony marking the Day of Uprising Against Occupation at Mala gora near Ribnica in the Dolenjska region. The Prime Minister took this opportunity to lay a wreath at the TIGR monument.

State Secretary Dr Stanislav Raščan took part, via audio-video conferencing, in the hybrid High-Level Roundtable on the Horn of Africa Drought. He announced Slovenia's contribution worth EUR 100,000 for emergency humanitarian aid to the affected people in the region, which will be channelled through the World Food Programme (WFP).

Today at 7 AM, around 3,000 polling stations for parliamentary elections opened across the country. Voters can cast their ballots until 7 PM.

State Secretary Dr Stanislav Raščan met with Minister of State for Security Policy at the Hungarian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Peter Sztáray, in Budapest. They discussed bilateral cooperation between the two countries and the current situation in Ukraine.

Food waste is not just morally and ethically problematic. In the EU we discard as much as 20% of all food that has been produced to feed people, and waste food is also the third largest cause of greenhouse gases.

Slovenia has surpassed its set objectives at Expo and the first results are already apparent, as companies are concluding business deals and tourist agencies from the United Arab Emirates are inquiring about package tours in Slovenia.

Book Night, celebrated on 22 April, is a voluntary self-organised national and international project taking place for the seventh consecutive year in Slovenia, beyond its borders and around the world. Book Night marks World Book Day celebrated on 23 April and declared by UNESCO in 1996. The day of books was well-received in Slovenia. We celebrate books for an entire week.

After a two-year hiatus due to the coronavirus, the largest chocolate event in Slovenia is returning to Radovljica: the 9th Chocolate Festival. The festival is not only a celebration of chocolate, but also excites with its rich accompanying programme and the observance of the principles of sustainable development. It will take place between 23 and 24 April.

The Prime Minister of the Republic of Slovenia, Janez Janša, spoke today with the US Secretary of State, Antony J. Blinken. In their talks, State Secretary Blinken and Prime Minister Janša stressed the need to continue supporting Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity through robust security assistance. They condemned the horrific atrocities committed by Russian forces in its unprovoked and unjustified war against Ukraine and stressed the need to hold Moscow accountable.

The Slovenian pavilion at the 59th Venice Biennale opened on 21 April 2022 with the exhibition of paintings by Marko Jakše, one of Slovenia's most acclaimed painters. The Slovenian Pavilion is once again located in the Arsenale, one of the two Biennale’s main exhibition venues. The vernissage is scheduled for 23 April, with the exhibition open until 27 November 2022.

In a month's time, on 20 May, Slovenia and the rest of the world will celebrate World Bee Day for the fifth time. Since 2022 is the European Year of Youth, the main topic of this year's celebration is youth and beekeeping. The main purpose of World Bee Day is to raise awareness among the international public about the importance of bees and other pollinators for humanity in the light of food security, the global elimination of hunger, and care for the environment and biodiversity.

The new issue of the News from Nuclear Slovenia is published.

Today, Foreign Minister Dr Anže Logar presented computer keyboards to the President of the Friends of Youth Association, Darja Groznik, and to the Secretary General of Caritas Slovenia, Peter Tomažič, as a symbolic gesture ahead of the Foreign Ministry’s donation of used computer equipment. “We are making a donation to two key organisations as they know best who needs the equipment most. I’m happy that the computers will go to the right hands,” declared Minister Logar.