Foreign Minister Anže Logar met with the Israeli Alternate Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Yair Lapid in Jerusalem today. They discussed bilateral relations and cooperation between the two countries, which has deepened and expanded into new areas in the last year. The high officials also touched upon the resilience and effective response of the international community to various crises. The talks also focused on current events in the region, EU-Israel relations and the priorities of the Slovenian Presidency of the Council of the European Union.

In light of the chaotic situation in Afghanistan that has been going on in recent days, Europe has been intensively preparing for a potential new wave of migrants. Janez Janša, the Prime Minister of the Republic of Slovenia, currently holding the presidency of the Council of the EU, wrote on social media that the European Union would not be opening European "humanitarian" or migration corridors for Afghanistan.

The Covid-19 update press conference was attended by the Minister of Health, Janez Poklukar, State Secretary at the Ministry of Education, Science and Sport, Damir Orehovec, and Maja Bratuša, who opened the press conference by presenting the latest epidemiological data.

Government Office for Development and European Cohesion Policy has approved EU funding for the project Industrial Business Zone Zalog with the Industrijska cesta road. The project implemented by Urban Municipality Ljubljana under the Agreement of the Development of the Osrednjeslovenska Region is worth EUR 5.2 million with European Regional Development Fund contribution standing at EUR 2.4 million.

Minister Anže Logar today hosted a working visit by Federal Minister for European and International Affairs of the Republic of Austria Alexander Schallenberg. The counterparts agreed that Slovenia and Austria hold a regular partnership dialogue on all bilateral, European, and international issues. The Austrian minister was accompanied by Governor of Styria Hermann Schützenhöfer.

Two weeks after deploying two firefighting teams to North Macedonia who successfully helped put out large wildfires, Slovenia today conveyed firefighting equipment to the area: firefighting backpacks, chainsaws, and fire beaters. State Secretary at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Dr Stanislav Raščan attended the dispatch at the Roje National Logistics Centre.

Government Office for Development and European Cohesion Policy has approved EU funding for the project Preparation of the documents for stage 2 of the Third Development Axis – South, the section from the Maline access point to the international border crossing Metlika and the Črnomelj South access point. The EUR 8 million project will be implemented by the Motorway Company of the Republic of Slovenia (DARS) in the frame of the Agreement on the Development of the Jugovzhodna Slovenija Region with the European Regional Development Fund contribution standing at nearly EUR 2.2 million.

Today, Prime Minister Janez Janša spoke with President of the European Council Charles Michel over the phone. They discussed the latest developments and the situation in Afghanistan, the future activities of the EU Council in the light of the changing geopolitical situation, the future of Europe and the Bled Strategic Forum, as well as the agenda of the forthcoming EU-Western Balkans Summit.

State Secretary Stanislav Raščan received Ambassador of Mongolia Battungalag Gankhuurai on a farewell visit at the end of her term of office at the Embassy in Vienna accredited to Slovenia.

The human race against the climate crisis clock is the theme of this year’s World Humanitarian Day, which is being marked today. To save our planet from the devastating and lasting effect of climate change, this year’s humanitarian day is dedicated to raising public awareness about humanitarian workers and their efforts aimed at alleviating the effects of climate change and about the victims who lost everything as a consequence.

Today, the Slovenian Presidency of the Council of the EU organised an extraordinary videoconference meeting of interior ministers within the framework of the Council's crisis response mechanism (IPCR), which was chaired by Minister of the Interior Aleš Hojs. The ministers expressed solidarity with the affected states - Latvia, Lithuania and Poland - and supported additional assistance to the member states at this section of the external EU border.

Minister of Foreign Affairs Anže Logar today attended an extraordinary meeting of EU foreign ministers on the latest developments in Afghanistan via video conference. The focus was placed on the EU’s coordination in evacuating European citizens and local Afghan staff who supported member states and the EU during their activities in Afghanistan.

Prime Minister Janez Janša and Minister of Finance Andrej Šircelj today met with members of the Fiscal Council. On behalf of the Fiscal Council, the meeting was attended by the President of the Fiscal Council, Dr Davorin Kračun, two members of the Fiscal Council, Alenka Jerkič and Tomaž Perše, and the head of the Fiscal Council's Analysis Service, Aleš Delakorda. The discussion focused on the public finance situation and economic policy both in Slovenia and the European Union.

Government Office for Development and European Cohesion Policy has approved EU funding for the project Arrangement of sustainable mobility in the city centre of Urban Municipality Slovenj Gradec. The project worth EUR 1.5 million will be implemented by the Urban Municipality Slovenj Gradec and will receive EU support with the contribution from the Cohesion Fund standing at EUR 633 thousand.

Prekmurje in the heart

"Again I hear the song amid the plains", says a line in the poem by Feri Lainšček, which we read in the middle of the wonderful Prekmurje landscape which is so special, dreamlike and beautiful. A landscape that makes the poet's soul sing and sets his heart to play. It is not only the poet who feels this way but also all the people of Prekmurje, who were cut off from the Slovenian homeland for nearly 900 years. Given this historical fact it is almost unbelievable that throughout those nine long centuries, and under the influence of other nations they preserved the Slovenian language, Slovenian culture and the ideas of a unified state and of Slovenian identity. That they have stood up and remained Slovenians.

Prime Minister Janez Janša and his wife Urška Bačovnik Janša today attended the main ceremony to mark the Day of the Unification of Prekmurje Slovenes with the Mother Nation, which took place in the castle courtyard in Beltinci.

Today, Prime Minister Janez Janša visited the Žale Cemetery in Ljubljana and laid a wreath at the tomb of Dr Andrej Bajuk, former prime minister, minister, and the president of the Nova Slovenija political party, marking the 10th anniversary of his death.

Today, Prime Minister Janez Janša and his Croatian counterpart Andrej Plenković spoke on the phone about foreign policy issues. They discussed measures to protect the EU's external borders against the rising wave of illegal migrations, the need for rapid expansion of the Schengen zone, the situation in Afghanistan, and the preparations for the Bled Strategic Forum 2021.

Slovenia is introducing the Passenger Locator Form for passengers travelling by airplane and ship on 16 August to facilitate contact tracing. Every passenger will be asked to fill out his or her own form, including passengers travelling together as a family or in a group. Passengers in transit, who will remain in the airport's transit area (unless they should decide to leave the airport area for whatever reason) and airplane or ship crewmembers will not be asked to fill out the form.

The Minister of Digital Transformation, Mark Boris Andrijanič, today attended the opening of the travelling mobile classroom named Simbioza Mobiln@. It is the latest acquisition that will bring, through modern digital educational initiatives, the use of ICT tools closer to senior citizens who want to learn how to use computers and smartphones.