Schedule of Events for Friday, 20 January

LJUBLJANA - The Ljubljana-based pharmaceuticals company Lek, which was taken over by Swiss multinational Novartis a few years ago, is to present its 2005 business results, and a plan to streamline the company, at 11 AM. (STA)

LJUBLJANA - The parliament is to meet at 10 AM for an extraordinary session to conduct the first two readings of the government-sponsored changes to the health insurance act designed to postpone the re-incorporation of mutual health insurer Vzajemna into a joint stock company. The third reading has been prevented by a referendum initiative.

BRATISLAVA, Slovakia - FM Dimitrij Rupel is to pay an official visit to Slovakia to meet FM Eduard Kukan and PM Mikulas Dzurinda. The two foreign ministers are to hold a news conference at around 1 PM. (STA)

VILLACH, Austria - Slovenia's Janez Drobnic is to attend an informal meeting of EU labour and social affairs ministers which is to discuss labour market flexibility and job security in the EU. The opening up of the entire EU labour market for EU newcomers could also be on the agenda.

LJUBLJANA - The National Council of Carinthian Slovenians (NSKS), a minority umbrella organisation, is to hold a press conference at 11 AM to speak about the current minority situation in Austria. (STA)

TRIESTE, Italy - Janez Sumrada of the Slovenian Foreign Ministry and the leader of the opposition LDS Jelko Kacin are to held separate meetings with the heads of both Slovenian minority umbrella organisations in Italy. They are to speak to the press at 11 AM and 3:45 PM respectively.

MARIBOR - Loans designed to support development-oriented investments of small and medium-sized businesses in Slovenia are to be presented to the press at 11 AM by the Slovenian Enterprise Fund.

GORIZIA, Italy - The Gorizia-based Slovenian Economic Association and Slovenia's Northern Primorsko Chamber of Commerce are to present the possibilities of cross-border cooperation of Slovenian small and medium-sized businesses at 11:30 AM.

CATEZ OB SAVI - A 6:30 PM panel sponsored by the coalition NSi from the region of Posavje is to discuss government-sponsored reforms. It will be attended also by NSi president and Finance Minister Andrej Bajuk.

LJUBLJANA - The parliamentary EU affairs committee is to discuss Slovenia's position on a regulation on civil aviation and the establishment of the European Aviation Safety Agency, as well as positions for several upcoming EU Council meetings; at 2 PM.

NOVA GORICA/LJUBLJANA - The Olympic flame is to make a stop in Slovenia for the first time in 22 years. The flame will be received in the morning by Jure Franko, the first Slovenian to win a medal at the Winter Olympics. Franko will then take the flame from a square between Italy's Gorizia and Slovenia's Nova Gorica to Ljubljana.

LJUBLJANA - The Network of Multimedia Centres of Slovenia is to stage a news conference at 11 AM, to be attended also by Culture Minister Vasko Simoniti.

KLAGENFURT, Austria - The Tischler Award, given to Slovenian people or institutions for their merit for the Slovenian minority in Austria's Carinthia, is to be conferred on musician and composer Joze Ropitz at 7 PM.

TENERIFE, Spain - Theatre director Tomaz Pandur is to start a tour of Spain with his controversial extravaganza "100 Minutes" based on Dostoyevsky's "The Brothers Karamazov". During a one-month tour of Spain, the show will be repeated 14 times in five theatre houses.

LJUBLJANA - Prokofiev's opera "The Love for Three Oranges" is to premiere at the Cankarjev dom in what is a co-production of the Slovenian National Opera and Ballet (SNG) and the Cankarjev dom arts centre at 7:30 PM.

LJUBLJANA - Press review. (STA)

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8:30 AM to 3:30 PM: Eva Horvat
3:30 PM to 10:00 PM: Sebastijan Macek

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