Prime Minister Robert Golob marks Sovereignty Day with these words: It has been 32 years since we became a sovereign country and were given the exclusive authority to take control of our own territory.

State Secretary Sanja Štiglic today addressed the UN Security Council Open Debate on the Middle East, convened at ministerial level by the Brazilian Presidency. The Open Debate focused on the situation in the Middle East, including the Palestinian question.

In the run-up to the 20th anniversary of Slovenia's membership of the European Union, the Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs organised the first debate entitled "Made in Europe, Made in Slovenia" on the future of industry in the context of green transition. In her opening address, Minister Tanja Fajon recalled that, in addition to the benefits of the membership, EU Member States also share some challenges, such as climate change and the green transition.

Prime Minister Robert Golob and Minister of Finance and Public Administration Klemen Boštjančič met today, on 24 October 2023, with the representatives of the Association of Urban Municipalities of Slovenia, the Association of Municipalities of Slovenia and the Association of Municipalities and Towns of Slovenia. They discussed the lump sum funding per capita for 2024 and 2025.

Minister Tanja Fajon welcomed ministers and representatives from 14 Danube countries to a ministerial meeting at Brdo pri Kranju and opened the 12th Annual Forum of the EU Strategy for the Danube Region (EUSDR). Slovenia thus concluded its one-year EUSDR Presidency and handed it over to Austria. More than 350 participants from all over Europe attended the Forum.

The main event under Slovenia’s one-year Presidency of the Forum of the European Union Strategy for the Danube Region (EUSDR) took place at Brdo pri Kranju. The opening ceremony was addressed by Minister of Foreign and European Affairs Tanja Fajon, Minister of Cohesion and Regional Development Aleksander Jevšek and European Commissioner for Cohesion and Reform Elisa Ferreira.

The State Secretary for European Affairs in the Office of the Slovenian Prime Minister, Igor Mally, attended the meeting of the Ambassadors of the EU Member States in Slovenia (EU HoMs) on Tuesday, 24 October 2023, at the invitation of the Ambassador of Spain, H.E. Juan Arístegui Laborde, in his capacity as Chairman of the meeting.

European telecommunications and digitalisation ministers gathered in León, Spain. In light of the unprecedented challenges we face as a result of the rapid development of modern technologies, the foundations for new global standards are being laid.

On Monday, October 30th, the Archive, the reading room and the information room will be closed due to a collective leave day.

At the correspondence session, the Government adopted amendments to the Decree determining the amount of excise duty on energy products and electricity.

Based on a decree issued by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Ukraine to the Republic of Slovenia, Andriy Taran, awarded the State Secretary for National and International Security, Andrej Benedejčič, the Order of Prince Jaroslav the Wise.

Minister of Foreign and European Affairs Tanja Fajon took part in the EU Foreign Affairs Council in Luxembourg. The meeting focused on the situation in Israel and the region, as well as on the Russian aggression against Ukraine. This was followed by an EU-Central Asia ministerial meeting, which was held together with the foreign ministers of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan.

Prime Minister Robert Golob today participated in a public consultation of experts, politicians, civil society and the general public on changes to the electoral system.

The 14th session of the Slovenian-Chinese Joint Commission for Economic Cooperation was chaired by Mr Slobodan Šešum, Director-General of the Directorate for Economic and Public Diplomacy, and co-chaired by Mr Yu Yuantang, Director General of the Department of European Affairs at the Chinese Ministry of Commerce. The previous session was held in Beijing in 2018.

We have all followed the mass shootings that occur in the United States. The two massacres that took place a few months ago in Belgrade, close to us, remind us of the evils that arise when it becomes too easy to access weapons

Slovenian Regional Development Fund has published two calls on its website (BIZI liquidity floods and BIZI liquidity energy). The two financial products target micro enterprises and SMEs and are designed to support flood recovery projects in the aftermath of the devastating floods in early August 2023 and/or projects aiming to reduce energy consumption amid energy crisis and price increases.

State Secretary Marko Štucin received the Austrian Governor of Styria, Christoph Drexler, in Ljubljana. They discussed cooperation between Slovenia and the Austrian province of Styria and called for its further development.

At the opening panel of the 10th Danube Participation Day hosted by the Faculty of Social Sciences of the University of Ljubljana, State Secretary Marko Štucin underlined the support for Ukraine and Moldova on their path towards the EU and pointed to the importance of civil society and the local community in this process.

The Minister of Infrastructure, mag. Alenka Bratušek, and mag. Simona Felser, Acting Director of the Slovenian Traffic Safety Agency, were the first signatories to sign the Pledge on Responsible Road Traffic Behaviour today. The pursuit of road safety and Vision Zero is a responsibility shared among individual citizens, society as a whole, and the state.

Slovenian companies directly or indirectly affected either by the crisis brought on through Russia's aggression against Ukraine or the energy crisis are offered new loans with favourable interest rates from SID Bank for investment and day-to-day business purposes.