It has been 20 years since the entry into force of the Agreement on Succession Issues, the first binding international legal instrument confirming the break-up of the former SFRY and the emergence of five sovereign and equal successor states on its territory. On this occasion, Minister Tanja Fajon reiterated her call to the successor states "to find the political will and wisdom to resolve the outstanding issues for the benefit of all our citizens."

May, when Mozambique held the presidency of the UN Security Council, was another month dominated by the situation in Gaza. The war in Sudan and the catastrophic humanitarian situation there, especially in Darfur, also came increasingly to the fore.

In Ulaanbaatar, State Secretary Sanja Štiglic held political consultations with the State Secretary at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Mongolia, Ankhbayar Nyamdorj. They agreed that the bilateral dialogue was dynamic and could be further strengthened through high-level political visits.

Minister Tanja Fajon attended an informal meeting of NATO Foreign Ministers in Prague to prepare for the Washington Summit in July. In her intervention, Minister Fajon stressed that "Slovenia's actions are underpinned by the values of democracy, international law and solidarity. As a responsible member of the Security Council, Slovenia is doing its utmost to contribute to peace and security in the world."

Prime Minister Robert Golob and the Ministers and Deputy Prime Ministers, Asta Vrečko and Matjaž Han, presented the achievements of the first half of the current Government's term of office. All three welcomed the Government's decision today to recognise Palestine.

At today’s session, the Government adopted the proposal on the recognition of independence and sovereignty of the State of Palestine, approved the starting points for drafting amendments to the Health Services Act, the starting points for amending tax legislation and the strategy for eliminating precarious work. It also adopted the intervention act on personnel in social care.

According to media reports, ministers from the Republika Srpska entity of Bosnia and Herzegovina's Council of Ministers, meeting in Sarajevo on Tuesday, rejected requests from Slovenia and several other EU member states to hold polls for the European elections in their embassies. So far, Slovenia has not received any official notification of a refusal to allow elections to be held at the Slovenian diplomatic and consular representation in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Prime Minister Robert Golob today met the Slovenian men's national football team, watched their training and wished them success at the upcoming European Football Championship.

From 28 May to 1 June 2024, the Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs is hosting a group of ten young American opinion leaders and prominent voices from politics, business, think tanks and NGOs as part of the EU-US Emerging Leaders Visitors Programme, a pilot exchange programme under the auspices of the European Commission.

"After a series of consultations over the past few days, I have decided to place on the agenda of Thursday's Government meeting a decision to forward recognition of Palestine to the National Assembly."

Today, Prime Minister Robert Golob and his delegation are paying an official visit to the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria. The purpose of the visit is to further the intensive and friendly relations between the two countries. This is the first bilateral visit since the entry into force of the agreement on economic cooperation on 20 March 2024, which aims to promote regular dialogue to enhance trade and investments.

At the regular monthly meeting of the EU Foreign Affairs Council in Brussels, ministers, including Slovenian Minister of Foreign and European Affairs Tanja Fajon, stressed the need to comply with the decisions of the relevant international courts and agreed that the EU should play a more active role in the process of strengthening the Palestinian Authority. Fajon said that the Slovenian government was working to recognise Palestine as soon as possible.

On the margins of the EU Foreign Affairs Council in Brussels, Minister for Foreign and European Affairs Tanja Fajon attended an international conference on supporting the future of Syria and the region. She welcomed UN Special Envoy Geir Pedersen's efforts to make progress on the resolution of the conflict in Syria and announced new humanitarian aid from Slovenia.

On the basis of the reverse inquiry, on May 21, 2024, a bond exchange transaction of the Republic of Slovenia was concluded. The RS66 bonds maturing in 2024 and 2025 were exchanged for RS74 bonds maturing in 2035.

Prime Minister Dr Robert Golob was today the main guest at the 19th Craft and Entrepreneurship Forum, where he took part in a discussion.

Slobodan Šešum, Director-General for Economic and Public Diplomacy, explained to business representatives from the Ljubljana, Brezovica, Dobrova - Polhov Gradec, Horjul, Ig, Škofljica and Velike Lašče municipalities how economic diplomacy can help businesses penetrate foreign markets.

At its two last sessions, the Government of the Republic of Slovenia adopted two flood recovery programmes to repair the damage caused by the August 2023 floods, with the development incentives measures programme also being drafted. After successfully preparing and submitting the application for financial assistance from the European Union Solidarity Fund, Slovenia received the maximum possible advance payment from the EU Solidarity Fund of EUR 100 million already in December 2023.

The Ministry of Cohesion and Regional Development has approved EU funding for the project Together for Knowledge: implementing activities in multi-purpose Roma centres.

Rok Tomšič, Head of the Department for Bilateral Economic Cooperation II at the Slovenian Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs, attended the 18th Meeting of National Coordinators of Central and Eastern European Countries and China (the so-called 14+1 Initiative), hosted by China in Ningbo on 23-25 May.

To mark the launch of the Stop Disinformation - reREAD, reTHINK, RECHECK campaign, we're taking a closer look at this topic in a new episode of the GOVSI Podcast.