World Bee Day celebrated at its birth place
Žirovnica, 20 May - Initiated by Slovenia, World Bee Day is being observed on Sunday for the first time ever in a bid to raise public awareness about the vital role of bees and other pollinators for humanity.
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The main ceremony on the occasion will be held in Žirovnica, the home town of the 18th-century Slovenian beekeeping pioneer Anton Janša, whose date of birth was picked for World Bee Day.
The high-profile event will be addressed by President Borut Pahor as well as FAO Director General Jose Graziano da Silva and Boštjan Noč, the head of the Slovenian Beekeepers' Association and the architect of the bid for World Bee Day.
The ceremony will be followed by a meeting of Slovenian beekeepers. More than 80 stalls will be selling bee products and handicrafts, and honey delicacies will be available for tasting.
Graziano da Silva, who took party in the world beekeeping conference on Friday and an international ministerial conference on Saturday, will be received for separate meetings by Pahor and Prime Minister Miro Cerar in Ljubljana in the afternoon.
World Bee Day was declared by the UN General Assembly in December 2017, about three years after the idea was first floated in Slovenia. The country is now trying to protect bees at the EU level.