State Secretary mag. Monika Kirbiš Rojs and representatives of the Government Office for Development and European Cohesion Policy today attended the fourth regular meeting of the Development Council of the Vzhodna Slovenija cohesion region dedicated to the programming period 2021-2027. The meeting was held in the Youth Cultural Centre in Slovenj Gradec.

Today, Prime Minister Janez Janša was on a working visit in the northern part of the Osrednjeslovenska statistical region. The Government paid a visit to 11 municipalities, namely Kamnik, Komenda, Vodice, Medvode, Mengeš, Trzin, Domžale, Dol pri Ljubljani, Moravče, Lukovica and Ljubljana.

Maribor, 7 March 2022 – Minister Zvone Černač attended the event Cohesion region Vzhodna Slovenia – yesterday, today, tomorrow, which took place in Maribor and was organised by the University of Maribor. The Minister also attended a round table, organised in the frame of the aforementioned event, titled Development challenges in the cohesion region Vzhodna Slovenija. Minister Černač also visited the Maribor University Medical Centre.

On 8 March, Prime Minister Janez Janša wished all female Slovenians and female citizens of Slovenia a happy International Women’s Day.

The wife of the Slovenian Prime Minister, Urška Bačovnik Janša, addressed the participants of the conference “Iranian Women on the March to Equality and Freedom – the fight and progress of Iranian Women” which was organised by the Women’s Committee of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI). The keynote speaker at the conference was Maryam Rajavi.

Prime Minister Janez Janša, Minister of Economic Development and Technology Zdravko Počivalšek and Minister of Infrastructure Jernej Vrtovec met in the evening with the managers of Petrol, MOL and OMV to discuss supplies and the delivery of petroleum products in the coming weeks, and measures for the prevention of supply disruptions in the event that the supply from Russia is interrupted.

State Secretary Dr Stanislav Raščan travelled to Montpellier to take part in an informal EU Foreign Affairs Council meeting in the configuration bringing together development ministers. The meeting focused on the situation in Ukraine, the geopolitical dimension of the EU's international cooperation and development policy, as well as biodiversity and food security.

In an interview with Sky News, Prime Minister Janez Janša today talked about the current situation in Ukraine and the impact of the war on Slovenia.

Foreign Minister Anže Logar attended the extraordinary meeting of the EU Foreign Affairs Council (FAC) in Brussels, led by the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell. The meeting was concentrated on the Russian military aggression in Ukraine and the assessment of the effects of the sanctions taken against the Russian Federation.

At the invitation of France, which is currently chairing the Council of the EU, State Secretary Gašper Dovžan attended the informal meeting of ministers and state secretaries for European affairs in Arles, France. The ministers and state secretaries focused on the crisis in Ukraine, the state of the rule of law in the EU and the Conference on the Future of Europe.

Together with Janez Poklukar, the Minister of Health, Prime Minister Janez Janša today visited Maribor University Medical Centre where he met the hospital management and the Dean of the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Maribor.

State Secretary Aleš Irgolič attended the second conference of agriculture ministers from the Visegrad Group extended to Bulgaria, Croatia, Romania and Slovenia at the invitation of the Hungarian Minister of Agriculture István Nagy. Ministers continued the dialogue, which began in September last year in Budapest, and sought a common position on the European common agricultural policy among the V4 countries.

Igor Jukič, Director-General for Multilateral Affairs and Development Cooperation at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, addressed the participants of the third conference on international cooperation in the field of water, organised by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of the Environment and Spatial Planning. The representatives of ministries and Slovenian experts discussed priorities and possible new forms of cooperation based on Slovenian knowledge and good practices.

Foreign Minister Anže Logar attended the extraordinary meeting of NATO foreign ministers. They discussed the situation in Ukraine.

Prime Minister Janez Janša addressed Ukrainian people. The speech was originally published on Channel24 (24 Канал).

Today, Prime Minister Janez Janša attended the literary evening concluding the Year of Josip Jurčič in Muljava as a keynote speaker. The literary evening was organised by the Ivančna Gorica Library and Municipality under the "Meet me in the library" European project. The last and most important book on Jurčič that was written as a part of the Year of Josip Jurčič, a literary history monograph by Urška Perenič entitled "Josip Jurčič: The Storyteller of his and our time", was presented at the event. In addition, young moderators and their mentor, Bernarda Žarn, musicians, Matevž Kavšek and Dominik Kastelic, and the organisers of the Year of Josip Jurčič also participated at the event.

Minister of the Interior Aleš Hojs attended the Justice and Home Affairs Council meeting in Brussels. Following Sunday's extraordinary meeting on the situation in Ukraine, the ministers continued their discussion on the response to the situation there, which requires constant and close monitoring and an immediate and decisive EU response.

Foreign Minister Anže Logar took part in the urgent debate of the United Nations (UN) Human Rights Council on the human rights situation in Ukraine, which was convened on the initiative of Ukraine due to Russian aggression in Ukraine.

According to estimates by the Ministry of Finance, general government debt in Slovenia decreased by almost 5 percentage points in 2021 compared to 2020. In 2020, general government debt amounted to 79.8% of gross domestic product, and in 2021, according to estimates by the Ministry of Finance, it decreased to 74.9% of gross domestic product.

Prime Minister Janez Janša today attended the 25th regular session of the Commission of Inquiry into the alleged money laundering in NKBM d.d., the alleged illegal financing of the SDS political party and the alleged illegal financing of the SDS election campaign for the early parliamentary elections.