Minister of Foreign Affairs Anže Logar addressed the members of the Board of Advisors of the ITF Enhancing Human Security organisation, giving an assurance that the Republic of Slovenia will continue providing financial and diplomatic support to the organisation.

Today, Prime Minister Janez Janša met with Dr Peter Gregorčič and Mr Miha Skubic from the civil initiative Enriching Education and Mr Marko Balažic from the civil initiative United Parents.

At today’s session, the Government permitted the implementation of hospitality activities such as preparing food and beverages and serving same on terraces and in the summer gardens of hospitality establishments and the provision of accommodation services at accommodation facilities of up to 30 rooms in nine statistical regions, as envisaged for the orange phase of easing of measures.

The press conference on the current situation regarding Covid-19 was attended by the Minister of Education, Science and Sport, Dr Simona Kustec, State Secretary at the Ministry of Health, Franc Vindišar, and Director of the National Examinations Centre, Darko Zupanc.

According to the vice-rector of the University of Maribor, Zoran Ren, the Vega supercomputer, which was officially launched at the Institute of Information Sciences in Maribor on Tuesday, places Slovenia in stride with the world's superpowers in terms of computing power, thus enabling Slovenian and European scientists to make extraordinary discoveries.

Government Office for Development and European Cohesion Policy has approved funding for the project “Footbridge Lent-Tabor”. The project worth a little under EUR 4.5 million will be implemented by the Urban Municipality of Maribor and will receive EUR 2.6 million of European Regional Development Fund support.

This week, the well-known American television network CNN published on its website an article entitled The Mini Venices around Europe, describing two Slovenian cities, Piran and Koper, as being among the most atmospheric towns that were once part of the Venetian Republic.

At the invitation of the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development of the Republic of Poland, Mr Grzegorz Puda, Minister Jože Podgoršek (in the first part) and State Secretary Aleš Irgolič (in the second part) have attended the meeting of the Ministers of Agriculture of the Visegrad Group extended to Slovenia, Bulgaria, Croatia and Romania (V4+4), which was held by videoconference. The Ministers have discussed the challenges and opportunities for agricultural holdings in light of the Farm to Fork Strategy and exchanged experience in the preparation of strategic plans for the Common Agricultural Policy.

Foreign Minister Anže Logar hosted Croatian Minister of Foreign Affairs and European Affairs Gordan Grlić Radman and Italian Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation Luigi Di Maio at a trilateral meeting on 21 April 2021 in Brdo pri Kranju. The ministers assessed the progress of the trilateral cooperation to date and took note of the specific proposals to enhance cooperation in the North Adriatic.

Today in Maribor, Prime Minister Janez Janša attended the inauguration ceremony of the Vega supercomputer, the largest supercomputer in Slovenia and the first EuroHPC supercomputer delivered.

Slovenia has been elected as a member of the UN Commission on Narcotic Drugs (CND) for the 2022–2025 period on 20 April 2021 in New York.

Today, State Secretary Gašper Dovžan took part in a video conference of European Affairs ministers and state secretaries. In the framework of the annual Rule of Law Dialogue, the morning session of the General Affairs Council (GAC) focused on the country-specific discussions on the rule of law situation across five EU Member States (Germany, Ireland, Greece, Spain and France), based on the European Commission’s first annual report published in September 2020.

On 20 April 2021, the EuroHPC world-class supercomputer Vega is officially inaugurated with a high-level ceremony in Maribor, Slovenia. Vega is the first EU supercomputer to be delivered, jointly financed with EU funds.

The 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 (MDDSZ), Cveto Uršič, and the director of the Trbovlje General Hospital, Dr Romana Martinčič.

Government Office for Development and European Cohesion Policy has approved funding for the project “Business Zone south of the railway Phase II”. The project worth over EUR 660,000 will be implemented by the Municipality of Žalec in the framework of the Agreement on the Development of the Savinjska region and will receive EUR 414,000 of European Regional Development Fund support.

Today in Ljubljana, Prime Minister Janez Janša met with Msgr Stanislav Zore, Archbishop of Ljubljana, Metropolitan and President of the Slovenian Bishops’ Conference, and other members of the Slovenian Bishops’ Conference.

Prior to the upcoming Slovenian EU Council Presidency, State Secretary Gašper Dovžan held videoconference consultations with Miguel Berger, State Secretary at the German Federal Foreign Office, who is responsible for political sectors and European policy, relations with the United States, the Russian Federation, the Middle East, Africa and Asia.

Today Prime Minister Janez Janša attended the ceremony commemorating the 30th anniversary of adopting the Military Service Act, where he was also the keynote speaker.

Foreign Minister Anže Logar today attended a video conference meeting of the Foreign Affairs Council. The ministers focused their discussion on the situation in Ethiopia and Ukraine and held an informal talk with Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba.

A joint letter of Slovenian Foreign Minister Anže Logar and his Portuguese counterpart Augusto Santos Silva has been published in today’s edition of the Delo newspaper, in which they discuss the objectives of their countries’ EU Council Presidencies. The entire letter is available below.