Today at Brdo pri Kranju, the Prime Minister of the Republic of Slovenia, Janez Janša, attended the second session of the Council of the Government of the Republic of Slovenia for Slovenes Abroad. The Prime Minister noted that this was a new form of work aimed at promoting more specific and intensive cooperation between the mother country and Slovenes living in neighbouring countries. He pointed out that with the administrative borders between Slovenia, Italy, Austria and Hungary finally eliminated this year, many opportunities, a number of which we might not yet fully recognise, had opened up in the united Slovenian cultural arena.

 

(Photo: Kristina Kosec/Bobo)

 

“In order to make the best possible use of these opportunities, we have decided to organise ourselves in the long term in terms of planning. Within the Council, preparation of the set of projects to be implemented by 2013 is well underway, for which different organisations in all four neighbouring countries can submit their proposals,” stressed the Prime Minister. The objective of the aforementioned set of projects, he continued, is to strengthen the material and general basis for the work of our fellow Slovenes in neighbouring countries – to preserve and strengthen Slovenehood and maintain the favourable trends recorded recently.

 

(Photo: Kristina Kosec/Bobo)

 

With a view to achieving greater efficiency, the Council for Slovenes Abroad has organised itself into three committees: the committee on status and legal issues, headed by the Minister of Justice; the committee on economic issues, headed by the Minister of the Economy; and the committee on culture, education and language preservation. The Prime Minister further added that all three committees, having adopted their programmes, constituted a more operational form of work in dealing with matters which could not be addressed in detail by the Council as a large body.