On December 8, 2023, the American-Slovenian Club (ASC) was formally established in Washington D.C., USA, to help Slovenian businesses in the USA better connect with the diaspora and to foster stronger collaboration among American Slovenian experts, entrepreneurs, professionals, and individuals.

The EU-Western Balkans Summit, which was attended today by Prime Minister Dr Robert Golob, reaffirmed the prospect of EU membership for the Western Balkans on the one hand and the increased commitment of the Western Balkan partners to accelerate reforms and alignment with EU policies and values on the other.

Ambassador Tadej Rupel, National Coordinator for External Aspects of Digitalisation, AI and Cyber Security, represented Slovenia at the Global Partnership on Artificial Intelligence (GPAI) Summit and Ministerial Council meeting in New Delhi, India, on 12–13 December 2023.

The Prime Minister Dr Robert Golob met with the President of the French Republic Emmanuel Macron in Paris. During a working lunch, the two leaders exchanged views on key issues to be discussed at tomorrow’s European Council. They also discussed strengthening bilateral cooperation, particularly in the economic field.

Today, Slovenia received an advance of EUR 24 million of EU funds under the Recovery and Resilience Plan for the implementation of REPowerEU measures to reduce the dependence on Russian energy products and accelerate the green transition. In total, EUR 122 million is available to Slovenia for this purpose. It will receive the remaining funds when it meets the milestones and targets of the planned measures.

The Slovenian delegation is attending the Global Refugee Forum in Geneva, which aims to strengthen international solidarity and burden-sharing in response to the large number of refugees worldwide.

The Ministry of Cohesion and Regional Development has approved EU funding for the project with the acronym ‘zMIGAJ!’, which supports sports and recreation activities to promote health.

As part of a final discussion of its working bodies, the Government adopted decisions establishing two public education institutions, reallocated spending rights and amended the 2023–2026 Development Programmes Plan.

On 11 and 12 December 2023, Minister of the Interior Boštjan Poklukar hosted a meeting of the interior ministers of the Salzburg Forum member states in Brdo pri Kranju.

State Secretary Marko Štucin attended a regular meeting of the EU General Affairs Council in Brussels, where ministers focused on the draft conclusions for the December European Council and on enlargement. He underlined that the decision to open accession negotiations with Bosnia and Herzegovina is key to maintaining the region's confidence in the EU.

Prime Minister Robert Golob has attended today's meeting of the ambassadors of EU members states to Slovenia hosted by the Spanish ambassador Juan Aristegui Laborde at the European Union House in Ljubljana.

The last Agriculture and Fisheries Council under the Spanish Presidency began on Sunday with negotiations on fishing opportunities. On the second day of the meeting, the Council considered the compromise text of the proposed regulation on new genomic techniques and discussed the labelling of the origin of honey blends. State Secretary Eva Knez participated in the second day of the meeting, in which the Council discussed the proposal for a regulation on plant protection products, took note of the situation in agricultural markets and took stock of the strategic plans of the common agricultural policy.

The Slovenian Prime Minister Robert Golob attended today's corner stone ceremony for Lek Pharmaceuticals' new high-tech centre for the production of biosimilars in Lendava. This is one of the largest direct foreign investment projects in Slovenia's history.

Minister of Foreign and European Affairs Tanja Fajon attended the European Council meeting in Brussels to discuss the situation in the Middle East, Russian aggression against Ukraine and the Sahel. This was followed by the Eastern Partnership ministerial meeting with ministers from the region. In the margins, she also met the High Representative of the international community for Bosnia and Herzegovina, Christian Schmidt.

As part of maintaining regular dialogue and good collaboration, Prime Minister Robert Golob and Slovenian President Nataša Pirc Musar met at a working breakfast.

The United Nations Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, adopted on 9 December 1948, was the first international human rights treaty to define the responsibility of states to prevent and punish genocide, a crime that shocked the conscience of the world at that time. One day later, on 10 December, UN Member States adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

The 23rd meeting of Contracting Parties to the Convention for the Protection of the Marine Environment and the Coastal Region of the Mediterranean – the Barcelona Convention (Conference of Parties – COP 23), held in Portorož, has successfully concluded. The contracting parties have adopted multiple important commitments to protect the Mediterranean from the increasing effects of climate change and to reduce biodiversity and pollution in the Mediterranean. One of the highlighted focus points is the active involvement of youth in decision-making processes.

A ribbon cutting ceremony was held today in Pragersko to mark the official opening of the renovated railway hub and railway station. The event featured remarks by Mayor of Slovenska Bistrica Dr Ivan Žagar, Minister of Cohesion and Regional Development Dr Aleksander Jevšek, and State Secretary at the Ministry of Infrastructure mag. Andrej Rajh.

The reading room and information room of the Archives of the Republic of Slovenia will be open from 8 AM until 12 PM on Thursday, December 14, 2023.
We also inform you that the reading room has a new email address, namely: citalnica.ars@gov.si.

Slovenia has made the biggest progress among 39 EU and OECD countries in reducing the number of children living below the poverty line over the past decade, according to a report published the UNICEF Office of Research - Innocenti