Minister of the Economy, Tourism and Sport Matjaž Han today visited Carinthia as part of his tour of the border regions that form Slovenia's economic hinterland. As part of the Slovenian Minority Business Coordination, the Minister aims to strengthen economic cooperation with the regions along Slovenia's border, as these regions account for 30% of trade with neighbouring countries.

Prime Minister Robert Golob today paid an official visit to Austria. He and his host, Austrian Federal Chancellor Karl Nehammer, discussed the close relations between the two countries, Austria's temporary border controls on the Slovenian border and the improvement of the situation of the Slovenian national community.

Prime Minister Robert Golob and Minister for Slovenians in Neighbouring Countries and Slovenians Abroad Matej Arčon met with representatives of the Slovenian national community in Austria.

Slovenian Minister of Foreign and European Affairs Tanja Fajon attended a trilateral meeting of the foreign ministers of Slovenia, Croatia and Austria in Rijeka. Together with the Croatian Minister for Foreign and European Affairs, Gordan Grlić Radman, who hosted the meeting, and the Federal Minister for European and International Affairs, Alexander Schallenberg, they discussed the possibilities to deepen cooperation between the countries and common challenges.

In the framework of the quadrilateral meeting between Slovenia, Austria, Liechtenstein and Switzerland, Acting Director-General of the Directorate for International Law and Protection of Interests, Dr Marko Rakovec, hosted the meeting of legal advisers. This was the first meeting at the level of legal advisers in the quadrilateral format, which has been held at deputy foreign ministers level since 2011.

State Secretary Marko Štucin hosted the traditional meeting between Slovenia, Austria, Liechtenstein and Switzerland at the level of deputy foreign ministers. Their discussions focused on the current challenges in the region, the fallout from the war in Ukraine and the situation in the Western Balkans.

State Secretary Marko Štucin met with Secretary General at the Austrian Federal Ministry for European and International Affairs, Dr Peter Launsky-Tieffenthal, in Bled today. They discussed current bilateral and European topics. In particular, they underlined the importance of the enlargement process to the Western Balkans and agreed that the region should remain a geostrategic priority for the EU.

At the invitation of the Minister of Defence, Marjan Šarec, the Federal Minister of Defence of the Republic of Austria, Klaudia Tanner, and her delegation paid a one-day official visit to Slovenia. The two ministers advocated further strengthening of good cooperation between the two countries in the defence and military fields, and in the management of natural and other disasters.

At the Interreg Programme Slovenia-Austria 2021-2027 workshop, which took place in Ptuj, State Secretary at the Government Office for Development and European Cohesion Policy mag. Marko Koprivc underlined the relevance of cross-border programmes that “build trust between the neighbouring partners”.

Minister of Defence Marjan Šarec attended the two-day ministerial meeting of the Central European Defence Cooperation (CEDC) Initiative in Krems, Austria.

State Secretary Marko Štucin paid a bilateral visit to Vienna and met with Austrian Federal Minister for the EU and Constitution Karoline Edtstadler and Secretary General of the Austrian Federal Ministry for European and International Affairs Dr Peter Launsky-Tieffenthal.

On 11 October 2022, the Republic of Austria announced to the European Commission, the Parliament and the Member States that it would extend the border control at the internal Schengen border with Slovenia for the period from 12 November 2022 to 11 May 2023. The reasons cited include an increase in migration flows, including due to visa policies in the Western Balkans, and an increase in secondary migration due to the current situation at the EU's external border, as well as due to the activities of organised groups of smugglers.

Minister of Foreign Affairs Tanja Fajon met with representatives of the Slovenian national community in Austria as part of her regular contacts with Slovenians abroad. The discussion focused on outstanding issues concerning the situation of the Slovenian national community in Austria.

At the invitation of the Austrian Patent Office, a bilateral visit to Vienna took place on 20 October 2022, where we explored opportunities for mutual cooperation, exchanged examples of good practice and views on current developments in the field of intellectual property rights.

State Secretary Marko Štucin addressed participants at the event held at the Faculty of Social Sciences in Ljubljana on the occasion of the 30th anniversary of diplomatic relations between Slovenia and Austria.

The international regional conference of the United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO) on development cooperation in the European region is taking place in Vienna. Slovenia was invited to participate in the conference as an example of good practice and, as a result, the representatives of the Ministry of Economic Development and Technology are presenting the Slovenian model of international development cooperation.

At the invitation of Austrian Federal Foreign Minister Alexander Schallenberg, Minister of Foreign Affairs Tanja Fajon attended the European Forum Alpbach, which is taking place in Tyrol under the title New Europe.

At the invitation of Hungarian Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjárto, Foreign Minister Tanja Fajon took part in a meeting of foreign ministers of five Central European countries (C5) in Budapest.

Acting Director-General of the Migration Directorate Nataša Potočnik attended a videoconference of the Salzburg Forum convened by Poland currently holding the Forum presidency.

Yesterday, Minister Irena Šinko attended, via video conference, the informal ministerial conference of the 4Forests group. Ministers discussed forestry topics common to the four highly forested countries – Slovenia, Finland, Sweden and Austria.