Mid-July this year marks the 80th anniversary of the start of the great Italian offensive in the Lower and Inner Carniola. The offensive went on for three months and eighteen days. Its aim - to destroy partisan movement - was not achieved, but it did affect civilians even more than it affected the partisan units. Italian army interned masses of people, shot anyone who seemed suspicious, burnt down entire villages, and offered money rewards to capture various partisan leaders. The High Command of Slovenian Partisan Forces, on the other hand, sent their units concise instructions on how to "thwart the enemy's plans" and how to "carry out counter-offensive".

After the three-day meeting of the NATO heads of state and government, the Slovenian Prime Minister Robert Golob stressed that the plans to increase defence expenditure were not due to political pressure, but to the global situation, which has radically deteriorated since the previous summit of the alliance.

Today, Prime Minister Robert Golob was a guest in a live broadcast of BBC World News. He spoke about the agreements made at the NATO Summit, the enlargement of the alliance, the (in)stability of the Western Balkans, the European idea, and the challenges related to and cooperation with China.

Based on today's technical adjustment, Slovenia will receive approximately EUR 1.5 billion for the measures envisaged in the Recovery and Resilience Plan. This is EUR 286 million less non-repayable financial support than predicted by the previous Government, which is a new fact that Robert Golob's Government will need to address. The shortfall in non-repayable financial support will have to be promptly dealt with by changing the financial resources envisaged in the Recovery and Resilience Plan.

At the invitation of the Slovene Dutch Business Platform (SDBP), Minister Irena Šinko participated via video conference in the Agro-Horti-Digitalisation event dedicated to digitalisation in agriculture and horticulture. The aim of the event is to improve business cooperation between the Kingdom of Norway and the Republic of Slovenia. SDBP is an important supporter and catalyst of international success and Slovenian economic breakthrough, which has been active in the Netherlands since 2003.

Following the 30th anniversary celebration of Slovenia’s membership to the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO), UNIDO Director General Gerd Müller and the Slovenian Minister of Economic Development and Technology Matjaž Han signed a Roadmap for Cooperation.

Minister of Foreign Affairs Tanja Fajon took part in the NATO Summit in Madrid, accompanied by Slovenian Prime Minister Robert Golob, and Minister of Defence Marjan Šarec. Minister Fajon participated in the informal meeting of NATO foreign ministers and in the roundtable discussion of women foreign and defence ministers from allied countries on Women, Peace and Security (WPS).

Consul General Alenka Jerak met with the Ohio Governor DeWine and Mrs. DeWine at their Residence near Columbus. Also present were the Director for Development/Economy Lidya Mihalik and Members of the Consular Corps in Ohio.

Prime Minister Robert Golob is attending the NATO Summit in Madrid, where the NATO Heads of State and Government will discuss the most pressing security issues with the key partners and approve a new strategic concept of the Alliance for the next decade and beyond with the aim of ensuring that NATO continues to implement its most important mission and responsibility – to ensure the collective defence of the Alliance's members and the security of one billion people.

We would like to inform our clients that consular operations and services of the Embassy of the Republic of Slovenia in Cairo will be severely limited between 30 June and 30 July 2022 due to absence of the Consul.

With today’s agreement by environment ministers on the Fit for 55 legislative package, Slovenia will become a beneficiary of the Modernisation Fund, an EU instrument to support green recovery in Europe. Negotiations with the European Parliament will follow, led by the incoming Czech Presidency of the Council of the EU.

At today’s correspondence session, the Government adopted initiatives to conclude the Protocols to the North Atlantic Treaty on the Accession of Kingdom of Sweden and Republic of Finland and sent them for approval to the Foreign Policy Committee of the National Assembly of the Republic of Slovenia.

The Minister for Digital Transformation, Dr Emilija Stojmenova Duh, met with the Director of the National and University Library (NUK), Mr. Vili Leban.

Acting Director-General of the Migration Directorate Nataša Potočnik attended a videoconference of the Salzburg Forum convened by Poland currently holding the Forum presidency.

After a meeting with non-governmental organisations, Slovenian Prime Minister Robert Golob pointed out that today’s meeting was the first step towards fruitful cooperation with civil society and emphasised that government structures actually need an active civil society, because non-governmental organisations work in the field and are in contact with people, which means that they not only are aware of the challenges and problems but can also address and resolve them quickly, avoiding long-lasting procedures.

The Embassy of the Republic of Slovenia in Tokyo, together with the Celje Regional Museum, the German Cultural Centre OAG Haus, the Embassy of Austria in Tokyo and the Austrian Cultural Forum Tokyo, opened an exhibition on Alma M. Karlin entitled "Japan At Last!".

Today we celebrated Slovenian Statehood Day at Slovenska Pristava in Harpersfield as part of the event "I am proud to be a Slovenian", and awarded commemorative medals of the Government of the Republic of Slovenia to individuals who 31 years ago actively contributed to the American recognition of independent Slovenia.

The French presidency of the Council of the European Union rounded up their activities in the digital sector with Digital Assembly. An event that took place in Toulouse on June 21st and 22nd, 2022, was focused around the theme "Looking to the Digital Future". The event explored issues related to EU sovereignty and autonomy. Minister Dr. Emilija Stojmenova Duh attended the event and actively participated at the panel “Investing in Immersive Technologies in Europe”.

The Strategic Council for Foreign Affairs, chaired by Foreign Minister Tanja Fajon, held its first meeting in its new composition at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Slovenia to debate current foreign policy issues. In their discussion on the war in Ukraine, the Council members were joined by invited guests – that is, authors of open letters on Ukraine.

Nina Ukmar, until recently director of Kosovelov dom Sežana, became the head of Minister’s Office on 24 June. She is joining the team of the Minister of Culture Dr Asta Vrečko as an experienced leader and an expert in the field of culture.