Schedule of Events for Friday, 3 February

VATICAN CITY, Vatican - Foreign Minister Dimitrij Rupel is scheduled to pay a working visit to the Holy See. He is due to hold talks with the Holy See's Secretary for Relations with States, Giovanni Lajolo. The pair are to address the press at 11:45 AM. (STA)

MUNICH, Germany - Defence Minister Karl Erjavec is to attend the opening of the 42nd Munich Security Conference. Erjavec is scheduled to meet Georgian counterpart Irakli Okruashvili on the sidelines of the event.

LJUBLJANA - Swedish Parliament Speaker Bjoern von Sydow is to wrap up his visit to Slovenia. Along with meeting President Janez Drnovsek, von Sydow is also scheduled to address a seminar on parliamentary democracy in European integration processes.

SKOPJE, Macedonia - Armed Forces Chief-of-Staff, Major General Ladislav Lipic, is to wrap up a visit to Macedonia.

LJUBLJANA - The parliamentary commission for relations with Slovenians abroad is to begin a session at 10 AM to debate the bill on relations with Slovenians abroad.

LJUBLJANA - The college of deputy group heads is to meet at 1 PM to set a date for an extraordinary session of parliament to discuss the deployment of Slovenian military instructors to Iraq.

LJUBLJANA - Leader of the opposition Liberal Democracy (LDS) Jelko Kacin and LDS MP Ales Gulic are to hold a press conference at noon to present the bill on religious freedom and religious communities that Gulic filed for parliamentary procedure on Thursday.

BLED - A two-day international academic forum on the flat tax is to get underway at 9 AM. The event, organised by the Centre for Financial Excellence, is to see an address by Finance Minister Andrej Bajuk. (STA)

LJUBLJANA - Agriculture Minister Marija Lukacic is to outline the ministry's priorities for the year at 10 AM.

LJUBLJANA - The Economic and Social Council, an industrial relations forum, is to begin its session at 10 AM to discuss plans for work permits for foreign workers for 2006.

MARIBOR - The meeting of the supervisory board of Slovenia's second-largest bank, NKBM, is to examine the bank's results for 2005. Although the bank has refused to reveal other points on the agenda, Slovenian media have speculated that the supervisors may decide on the fate of chairman of the board Matjaz Kovacic.

TRBOVLJE - Lafarge Cement is to present 2005 business results and plans for the future for the Trbovlje-based cement maker at a press conference scheduled for 11 AM.

MARIBOR - The Maribor District Court is to hand down its verdict in the trial of fallen stock market guru Davorin Sadar, who is facing jail time on charges of embezzlement. (STA)

LJUBLJANA - The Architecture Museum will host an exhibition on one century of Slovenian chair design, showcasing chair designs by Michael Thonet, Niko Kralj and Branko Ursic. The exhibition, which will feature 32 chair exhibits, will close on 3 March.

LJUBLJANA - Press review. (STA)

In case of further queries please contact duty editor at +386 1 241 0109:

8:30 AM to 3:30 PM: Sebastijan Macek
3:30 PM to 10:00 PM: Gorazd Jukovic

Comments and suggestions may be sent to: english@sta.si