Slovenia joins the efforts to limit the spread of coronavirus by sending assistance in kind (1.2 million facemasks) to the People’s Republic of China, thus being among the first countries to respond through the EU Civil Protection Mechanism by providing the most generous donation per capita. In addition, Slovenia will also allocate a EUR 60,000 donation to the World Health Organisation.

State Secretary Dobran Božič attended a meeting of the Slavkov format composed of Austria, the Czech Republic and Slovakia in Bratislava today. For the first time, the Slovenian and Croatian state secretaries joined their counterparts in the Slavkov trilateral format for a meeting.

State Secretary Matej Marn held political consultations on current EU issues with the Hungarian Minister of State for EU Affairs, Attila Steiner, in Budapest today.

Elan Ski Day, an economic and promotional event co-organised by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Elan company, took place in Kranjska Gora today. Minister of Foreign Affairs Dr Miro Cerar addressed the participants of the event, intended for foreign diplomats accredited in Slovenia.

During his working visit, State Secretary Dobran Božič held bilateral talks with representatives of the US Administration. He addressed principal issues of common interest, including bilateral political and economic cooperation, NATO, EU-US relations, and individual regional issues, with particular emphasis on the Western Balkans.

Slovenian citizens are advised to postpone all unnecessary travel to China due to the novel Coronavirus 2019-nCoV epidemic and related restrictive measures taken by the Chinese authorities. It is also not recommended to travel into Chinese provinces, where a quarantine or transport limitations and restrictions have been introduced, such as Hubei, Hunan, Henan, Guangdong and Zhejiang.

On the occasion of the Slovenian national holiday, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs opened the “Between the Sky and the Earth” exhibition mounted by the students of the Faculty of Architecture. At the same time, the Ministry presented Slovenian priorities for international cultural cooperation for 2020: research as art, intercultural dialogue, European cooperation, and cultural and creative industries.

The Slovenian Foreign Ministry welcomes today's proposal of the European Commission on new enlargement methodology, aiming for a more efficient, transparent and credible enlargement process.

Today, the Slovenian Foreign Ministry hosted bilateral political consultations between Slovenia and Ethiopia, headed by the Acting Director-General for Common Foreign and Security Policy, Anita Pipan, and the Director-General for European and European Union Affairs at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ethiopia, Ato Mehreteab Mulugeta. They addressed bilateral cooperation, including in economic matters, as well as cooperation at the multilateral level.

The eighth session of the Intergovernmental Slovenian-Belarusian Commission on Trade, Economic, Scientific and Technical Cooperation was held at the Brdo Congress Centre today. It was headed by the State Secretary at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Slovenia, Dobran Božič, and the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Belarus, Oleg Kravchenko.

Today, the State Secretary, Dobran Božič, took part in a working meeting of State Secretaries and Secretaries-General of EU Member States' Foreign Ministries, hosted by the Secretary General of the European External Action Service (EEAS), Helga Schmid.

Today, the Court of Justice of the European Union in Luxembourg delivered its judgment on the admissibility of the Slovenian action against Croatia for infringements of EU law resulting from Croatia’s refusal to implement the Arbitral Award on the border between the countries declaring that it lacks jurisdiction to rule on the action.

Students participating in the first project of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs ‘Young Women Ambassadors’ completed the informal educational programme on 30 January 2020. They were received by the President of the Republic and presented with project certificates.

On 30 January 2020, the Slovenian Government approved the report about the oral hearing of Slovenia in the third UPR cycle, which took place in Geneva on 12 November 2019. At the same time, it approved the report of the UPR Working Group on the basis of which Slovenia decided on the recommendations of other countries in the third UPR cycle. The decision will be published on the website of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA).

An amendment of the Visa Code (Regulation (EC) No 810/2009) enters into force on 2 February 2020. As a result, some of the rules governing the issuing of Schengen visas will change.

Today, the day before the United Kingdom withdraws from the EU, Minister Dr Miro Cerar held talks with the British Ambassador to Slovenia Sophie Honey. They agreed on the excellent bilateral relations and stressed that despite Brexit, Slovenia and the UK will continue to strengthen the bilateral cooperation in economy, tourism, investment, science, education and culture, and the cooperation within multilateral forums. The countries will pursue their endeavours in all areas of common interest, including in South-East Europe.

Today, the State Secretary, Dobran Božič, took part in a working meeting of State Secretaries and Secretaries-General of EU Member States' Foreign Ministries, hosted by the Secretary General of the European External Action Service (EEAS), Helga Schmid.

Today the Ministry of Foreign Affairs hosted a round table discussion ‘Slovenia for the Rights of the Child - How to Improve the Situation of Children Worldwide’ that marked the 30th anniversary of the Convention on the Rights of the Child and the 20th anniversary of its Optional Protocols. The aim was to highlight the breadth of international activity of different Slovenian stakeholders in the field of children's rights, for which Slovenia is known in the international community.

Slovenia remains committed to the activities aimed at achieving comprehensive, just and long-lasting peace in the Middle East, including the establishment of the State of Palestine and bearing in mind Israel’s security concerns.

Between 27 and 29 January, a Slovenian delegation participated in, and co-hosted an informal consultation on the preparatory work for the new international convention on international cooperation in investigations and prosecution of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes, known as the MLA initiative.