Slovenia's bilateral technical assistance to Montenegro continues.

Minister of Foreign Affairs Dr Miroslav Cerar meets Tatjana Rojc, senator in Italian Parliament.

At the beginning of this week, from 21 to 23 October 2019, three events related to e-government were held in Helsinki within the Finland's Presidency of the Council of the European Union, i.e. the SEMIC 2019 conference, the Digital Government Conference and the regular Meeting of EU Chief Information Officers.

On Thursday, 24 October 2019, the 3rd International conference on e-identification and e-trust services – ZEIDES 2019 was held at the Radisson Blu Plaza Hotel.

Three years ago, news of the birth of “baby dragons” at Postojna Cave circled the globe.

Prime minister Marjan Šarec addressed participants of the 10th conference of Slovenian scientists and businesspeople from Slovenia and around the world at the Institut Jožef Stefan (IJS).

Today Minister Dr Cerar held a meeting with President of the International Criminal Court Judge Chile Eboe-Osuji.

In its assessment of the fulfilment of the Schengen rules and standards, the European Commission wrote on Tuesday that Croatia has met the conditions for joining the Schengen Area.

Andrej Benedejčič, Ambassador-at-Large for arms control, disarmament and non-proliferation, attended the NATO Conference on Weapons of Mass Destruction in Brussels. This annual event reaffirms the commitment of the North Atlantic Alliance to ensure military transparency and predictability. The meeting is primarily devoted to preparations for the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) Review Conference to be held in New York in mid-2020, as well as to discussing a new security reality after the demise of the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty.

Regular political consultations between Slovenia and Turkey have been held today led by the Political Director/Director General for Common Foreign and Security Policy Matej Marn and Director General for Central Europe and Balkans in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Turkey Ambassador Sadik Babür Girgin. Interlocutors have discussed the bilateral relations between countries, including economic cooperation and cooperation in multilateral affairs.

At Cankarjev Dom, prime minister Marjan Šarec addressed those attending the event to announce the winners of the Slovenian Gazelle awards, which are given by Dnevnik to successful Slovenian companies.

Government Office for Development and European Cohesion Policy, partner in INNOVA-FI project, participated at workshop on the topic of the role of financial instruments (FIs) in the regional ecosystem and territorial cohesion that took place during the European Week of Regions and Cities on Thursday, October 10, at Brussels Convention Centre. The session was organized as a joint effort of Startup Europe Regions Network (SERN) and ESPON.

The European Commission published the most recent results of the regular comparative analysis of the development of eGovernment services in the European Union in 2019 (eGovernment Benchmark). The measurements were carried out in 2018.

18 October – EU Anti-Trafficking Day – is intended to raise awareness of human trafficking and to encourage everyone involved to work harder in the fight against this phenomenon. “In Slovenia we are working for the fourth year in a row to increase awareness of forced labour and labour exploitation, which is a too-little recognised form of this serious crime”, said State Secretary at the Ministry of the Interior and National Anti-trafficking coordinator Sandi Čurin.

Slovenian prime minister Marjan Šarec is attending the second day of the regular meeting of the European Council in Brussels.

As part of the meeting hosted by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, students participating in the Young Women Ambassadors project learnt more about consular affairs.

State Secretary Simona Leskovar and Deputy Assistant Secretary for Central Europe and Holocaust Issues Matthew G. Boyse confirmed the interest in strengthening cooperation between Slovenia and the United States and exchanged positions on topical regional and international issues.

European Vocational Skills Week wrapped up today. A series of events and activities took place across Europe to highlight the benefits of vocational education and training and vocational skills development. The aim of the week, organised annually by the European Commission, is to improve visibility and recognition of vocational education and training (VET) and offer the relevant actors a chance to engage in dialogue. Government Office for Development and European Cohesion Policy, the Managing Authority for the ESF, the ERDF and the Cohesion Fund, has already approved EUR 40.5 million in ESF funding for programmes and calls for proposals aiming to promote vocational education and training in Slovenia.

At the invitation of his Cypriot counterpart Nikos Christodoulides, Foreign Minister Dr Cerar paid an official visit to the Republic of Cyprus on 17 and 18 October. He was accompanied by a group of Slovenian business representatives, who attended a business forum held in parallel with the visit.