News

State Secretary Gašper Dovžan and State Secretary for EU Affairs of North Macedonia, Kalinka Gaber, today held a discussion expressing satisfaction with the excellent relations between the two countries.

A press conference on the current COVID-19 situation was attended by the State Secretary at the Ministry of Labour, Family, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities, Mateja Ribič, State Secretary Ajda Cuderman, and the Director-General of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Slovenia, Mitja Gorenšček.

Following the guidelines of official authorities, the Archives of the Republic of Slovenia will be closed from April 1st, 2021 until further notice. To obtain information or data from archival records, please contact the archive in writing by regular mail or e-mail or during office hours by telephone.

The Director-General for European Union Affairs, Ambassador Barbara Sušnik, today held bilateral consultations with Slovakia by videoconference. She and the Slovak Director-General for European Affairs, Tomáš Kozák, exchanged views on topical bilateral, European, and international issues.

The International Research Centre for Artificial Intelligence (IRCAI) is a newly established category II centre set up at the Jožef Stefan Institute under the auspices of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) as the first and the only centre directly focusing on artificial intelligence (AI) with global outreach. The establishment of the IRCAI centre in Slovenia demonstrates that Slovenian researchers play a leading role in this field of scientific research and that the country provides a stimulating environment for developing a centre of this kind.

Today saw the start of the 11th session of the United Nations Open-ended Working Group on Ageing, which will take place until 1 April 2021. In addition to a high panel on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on older persons, this year's session will focus on the “Right to Work and Access to the Labour Market” and “Access to Justice”.

On 24 and 25 March 2021, a delegation of the Republic of Slovenia and Acting Director-General for International Law and Protection of Interests Marko Rakovec participated in the 60th meeting of the Committee of Legal Advisers on Public International Law (CAHDI) of the Council of Europe.

Today's press conference on the current situation related to COVID-19 featured the head of the advisory group Mateja Logar and the head of the Intensive Therapy Department of the Infectious Disease Clinic of the University Clinical Centre (UKC) Ljubljana Matjaž Jereb.

Government Office for Development and European Cohesion Policy has approved EU funding for the project “Promoting entrepreneurship in Natura 2000 – Vudina Business Zone”. The project worth over EUR 940,000 will be implemented by the municipality Velika Polana and will receive nearly EUR 700,000 of European Regional Development Fund support.

Today, 17 years ago, Slovenia became a full member of NATO, the most effective alliance in the history of mankind, joined by 30 countries from all over the world. As part of today’s short celebration, Minister of Foreign Affairs Anže Logar, together with Slovenia’s first Permanent Representative to the North Atlantic Council, Ambassador Matjaž Šinkovec, officially raised the NATO flag in front of the Ministry.

This week is marked by the first part of the Generation Equality Forum, which takes place between 29 and 31 March 2021 in Ciudad de México. The second part will be held in Paris towards the end of June under the auspices of French President Emmanuel Macron. The event is set up as an initiative to promote gender equality and women’s rights based on the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action adopted in 1995. Mainly organised by UN Women, Mexico and France in cooperation with civil society, the Forum aims to strengthen and encourage countries to commit to concrete action to achieve genuine gender equality by 2030.

At today’s session, the Government adopted measures to contain the COVID-19 epidemic. Most of the measures will be in force from 1 April up to and including 11 April 2021.

The Government of the Republic of Slovenia today convened at the Brdo Congress Centre for its 67th regular session at which it discussed measures to curb the spread of COVID-19. Among other things, the Government discussed the expert group’s proposal for an 11-day lockdown. This proposal is based on the figures which show a growing number of infections and hospitalisations and which, once again, call into question the stability of the Slovenian healthcare system, since the numbers of those needing intensive care could exceed even those that we saw at the peak of the second wave. These were all topics of the meeting that Prime Minister Janez Janša attended earlier today at the Brdo Congress Centre together with the presidents of the parliamentary parties, the heads of deputy groups, the minister of health and the minister’s expert group for the containment and control of the COVID-19 epidemic, which was hosted by President Borut Pahor.

Today at Brdo Congress Centre, Prime Minister Janez Janša attended a meeting of the presidents of parliamentary parties, heads of deputy groups, the minister of health and the minister’s expert group for the containment and control of the COVID-19 epidemic. At the meeting, the minister of health and head of the expert group presented their proposals for measures to contain the third wave of the COVID-19 epidemic ahead of them being put up for discussion and adoption at the session of the Government of the Republic of Slovenia.

State Secretary mag. Monika Kirbiš Rojs today attended a conference on draft Recovery and Resilience Plan at the invitation of the President of the Republic of Slovenia Borut Pahor. The conference was held at Brdo pri Kranju.

Prime Minister Janez Janša participated in a video conference today on media freedom and the rule of law in Slovenia. The European Parliament’s Democracy, Rule of Law and Fundamental Rights Monitoring Group (DRFMG), as part of the EP’s Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs (LIBE), continued the discussion on the freedom of the media and the rule of law in Slovenia which began on 5 March 2021.

The European macro-regional strategy EUSAIR is based on four thematic pillars, and Slovenia, on its behalf the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, with key partners (Public Agency for Promotion of Entrepreneurship and Developing Projects of Municipality of Izola and the Government Office for Development and European Cohesion Policy) is chairing the strategy until the end of May this year – The main topic of the presidency is “green integration” as Slovenia, together with Bosnia and Herzegovina, coordinates the environmental quality pillar, which aims to improve the quality of life on the coast by the common sea – The 6th Annual EUSAIR Forum in May will be organized in a hybrid or fully virtual format, but still rich in content.

Today, at the invitation of Minister of Foreign Affairs Anže Logar, the Romanian Minister of Foreign Affairs Bogdan Lucian Aurescu is paying an official visit to Slovenia. The visit is aimed at strengthening friendly relations between Slovenia and Romania and further deepening their cooperation within regional and international forums as well as on issues that are key to European citizens.

Today, State Secretary Stanislav Raščan took part in a virtual seminar for the listeners of Paraguay's Diplomatic Academy, Institute for Strategic Studies, and National Defence Centre. As the lecture was also an excellent opportunity to establish contacts between the Slovenian and Paraguayan diplomatic academies, Head of the Slovenian Diplomatic Academy Andraž Zidar addressed the participants at the beginning of the event.

Government Office for Development and European Cohesion Policy has approved funding for the project Business Zone Arnovski gozd – expansion. The nearly EUR 3 million development project will be implemented by the Municipality Žalec and supported by the EU, with the contribution from the European Regional Development Fund amounting to almost EUR 1.5 million.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Slovenia and the Embassy of Slovenia in Copenhagen, in cooperation with the Slovenian Chamber of Commerce and Industry and SPIRIT Slovenia, invite you to participate in the UN International Procurement Seminar to take place in virtual format on 16–17 June 2021. This year, the seminar is being organised for a second time, in partnership with Ireland, the Netherlands, Poland and the United Kingdom.

We are pleased to inform you about the launch of the event of the International Research Center on Artificial Intelligence under the auspices of UNESCO (IRCAI), which will take place on 29-30 March 2021. The event will be held online, with the Director-General of UNESCO, Ms. Audrey Azoulay, participating as an introductory speaker on March 29.

State secretary Blaž Košorok today participated in a video conference of transport ministers of the Trio Presidency of Germany, Portugal and Slovenia, which was hosted by the Portuguese Minister of Infrastructure and Housing Pedro Nuno Santos, who currently chairs the meetings of EU transport ministers. The meeting of the transport ministers of the Trio Presidency takes place ahead of an informal video conference of EU transport ministers to be held on Tuesday, 30 March. The Trio Presidency has taken stock of the work of the Portuguese Presidency so far and the developments on individual dossiers considered.

Today, Prime Minister Janez Janša took part in a video conference of the members of the European Council.

Slovenian Prime Minister Janez Janša, Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki, French President Emmanuel Macron, Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babiš, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, Slovak Prime Minister Igor Matovič and Romanian Prime Minister Florin Cîțu have written a letter to the President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen about the role of nuclear energy in the EU climate and energy policy.

State Secretary Stanislav Raščan today hosted the Minister of State for Trade Policy in the Department for International Trade of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland Greg Hands, on his two-day official visit to Slovenia.

Prime Minister Janez Janša today met with President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen via a video conference.

Today’s press on the current situation with the COVID-19 disease was attended by Janez Poklukar, the Minister of Health, Tjaša Žohar Čretnik, Director of the National Laboratory of Health, Environment and Food, Deana Potza from the Health Inspectorate, and Tomaž Pečjak, Deputy Director General of the Police.

Minister Dr Jože Podgoršek addressed this morning via videoconference the participants of the online conference on the development potential in agriculture entitled "AgriTech – Discover the potential of Slovenia and Japan in agriculture". The event was organised by the Embassy of the Republic of Slovenia in Tokyo, SPIRIT Slovenia Public Agency, and Japan's Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries.

The State Secretary at the Ministry of the Environment and Spatial Planning, Dr Metka Gorišek, met with the Polish Ambassador to Slovenia, H.E. Dr Krzysztof Olendzki.

Prime Minister Janez Janša addressed a letter to President Borut Pahor proposing that a meeting with all leaders of parliamentary parties as well as with heads of deputy groups, Ministry of Health and advisory group is convened as soon as possible.

Slovenia's Chairmanship of the Adriatic and Ionian Initiative (AII), in cooperation with the Forum of the Adriatic and Ionian Chambers of Commerce and AII Permanent Secretariat, organised a round table on “Equal opportunities in public administration, academia, and business”. The starting point for the organisation of the round table was the second study on equal opportunities in Slovenian diplomacy, which was recently concluded and conducted by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in collaboration with Icelandic colleagues.

Slovenian government has adopted the Report on the Implementation of EU Cohesion Policy 2014-2020 for the Investment in Growth and Jobs Goal for the Period January 2014-End of December 2020 and submitted it to the National Assembly.

At today's session, the Government adopted the Ordinance amending the Ordinance on the temporary partial restriction of movement of people and on the prohibition of gathering of people to prevent the spread of COVID-19, which stipulates that the movement of people is again restricted to within the region in the Obalno-kraška region, the Goriška region and the Koroška region. Movement is now restricted at night from 22:00 to 5:00. By way of the amendment, a negative RAT test is no longer listed among the general exceptions for entry into Slovenia. The Government also supplemented the national COVID-19 vaccination strategy.

Prime Minister Janez Janša today met with President of the European Council, Charles Michel, via videoconference. Their discussion mostly focused on the harmonisation of priorities and events of the Slovenian presidency of the Council of the EU. Charles Michel, the President of the European Council, will also be among the guests of honor at the ceremony marking the 30th anniversary of Slovenia’s statehood.

Minister of Foreign Affairs Anže Logar attended a regular two-day meeting of foreign ministers of the North Atlantic Alliance in Brussels this week. On the opening day, foreign ministers discussed the respective situations in Afghanistan and the Southern Neighbourhood, along with the NATO 2030 process. On the following day, the officials exchanged views on Russia, regional security and arms control with High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell, Finnish Foreign Minister Pekka Haavisto and Swedish Foreign Minister Ann Linde.

Today, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs summoned His Excellency Ambassador of the People’s Republic of China Wang Shunqing for talks.

Eva Grilc, an epidemiologist from the NIPH, and Jože Ramovš, an anthropologist, social worker, scientific advisor and associate professor, the initiator of the establishment of the Anton Trstenjak Institute, participated in a press conference on the current situation regarding COVID-19.

The 46th session of the UN Human Rights Council, which concluded today in Geneva, saw the adoption of resolutions on the human rights situation in Belarus, Syria, Iran, Myanmar, and Sri Lanka. Within a group of countries, Slovenia also presented a resolution on human rights and the environment, which is a continuation of efforts to address the link between human rights and the environment. To this end, it continues to support the work of the UN Special Rapporteur on this topic. The resolution, which places particular emphasis on the biodiversity conservation, was adopted unanimously by the Council.

Following the opening address by Prime Minister Janez Janša and the parliamentary debate, the National Assembly has confirmed at its plenary session the Government's proposal for the Declaration on the Activities of the Republic of Slovenia in the Institutions of the European Union for the Period 2021–2024.

Today, Prime Minister Janez Janša contacted Austrian Federal Chancellor Sebastian Kurz and Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babiš for further harmonisation of views ahead of a meeting of European Council leaders who will, inter alia, discuss the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic and the supply of vaccines. Kurz, Babiš and Janša agreed that contracts for the supply of vaccines must be fulfilled and that corrective mechanisms should be put in place where the European Commission does not guarantee supplies in accordance with such contracts. Slovenia ordered 3.1 million doses of vaccines for the first half of 2021, which covers the needs of its population.

EU Ministers responsible for agriculture and fisheries met yesterday and today at the EU Council meeting held in Brussels. The main items on the agenda were agriculture and fisheries. Minister Dr Jože Podgoršek attended the meeting on behalf of Slovenia. The Minister also met with Italian and French agricultural ministers in the framework of the meeting.

State Secretary Gašper Dovžan attended a video conference meeting of ministers and state secretaries for European affairs, focusing on the preparations for a video conference of the European Council members at the end of the week. The officials exchanged views on a joint response to the COVID-19 pandemic, particularly regarding vaccine supply, the efforts to jointly and gradually remove restrictions as soon as the situation allows, the digital green pass, and global vaccine supply.

On Tuesday, 23 March 2021, the Minister of Public Administration Boštjan Koritnik attended the World Summit on the Information Society 2021 (WSIS Forum), hosted by: The International Telecommunication Union (ITU), the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO), the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) and the United Nations Software Developer (UNDP).

Maja Ravnikar, director of the National Institute of Biology (NIB), and Robert Carotta, coordinator for hospital beds at the Ministry of Health, took part in a press conference on the current situation regarding the COVID-19 disease.

At today’s 67th extraordinary session of the National Assembly, Prime Minister Janez Janša spoke about the proposal for a Declaration on the Orientations for the Republic of Slovenia’s functioning in the European Union institutions for the period 2021–2024.

Government Office for Development and European Cohesion Policy has approved EU funding for the project “DRR Cycling routes in the municipality Ivančna Gorica”. The project, implemented in the framework of the Agreement for the Development of the Osrednjeslovenska Development Region, is worth a little over EUR 2 million and will receive over EUR 1 million of European Regional Development Fund support.

At today’s 67th extraordinary session of the National Assembly replied to oral questions put to him by Franc Jurša (DeSUS), Zmago Jelinčič Plemeniti (SNS), Tina Heferle (LMŠ) and Janja Sluga (SMC) on long-term care, harmonisation of pensions, vaccines, prosecutors and future government work.

Foreign Minister Anže Logar today attended a regular meeting of the Foreign Affairs Council. In an informal video conference with United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet, the ministers addressed issues related to the protection and promotion of human rights and focused on the Southern Neighbourhood and EU-Turkey relations.

Government Office for Development and European Cohesion Policy has approved EU funding for the project “Jesenice Business Zone expansion – reconstructing transport infrastructure”. The project worth approximately EUR 1,1 million will be implemented by the Municipality Jesenice and will receive over EUR 610,000 of European Regional Development Fund support.