News roundup - Thursday, 7 September, until 3pm

Slovenia wants to help African countries address climate change

LJUBLJANA - As an EU member, Slovenia wants to be a partner to African countries in efforts to mitigate the effects of climate change and to adjust to it faster, the Foreign Ministry said after its climate diplomacy envoy Smiljana Knez attended the Africa Climate Summit in Nairobi, Kenya, from Monday to Wednesday. The country's strategic approach to African partners must reflect their specific challenges as well as their social, environmental, economic and cultural diversity, said the ministry.

Croatia wants to improve status of its community in Slovenia

LJUBLJANA - President of the Croatian Parliament Gordan Jandroković, who is on a visit to Slovenia, said that the situation of the Croatian minority, which does not have the status of a minority in Slovenia, was one of the open bilateral issues that Croatia would like to resolve in the spirit of good neighbourly relations. "The status of Croats in Slovenia is important to us, and we believe that the conditions have been met for them to be given the status of an ethnic minority," Jandroković said as he met members of the Croatian community in Slovenia.

Survey: Two-thirds support post-flood solidarity contribution

LJUBLJANA - The government-imposed solidarity contribution from Slovenian residents and companies that will be spent for the post-flood recovery effort is supported by two-thirds of respondents in a survey carried out at the end of August for the newspaper Dnevnik. The survey conducted by Ninamedia between 28 and 31 August on 1,268 adults shows that 65% of them agree that all residents should contribute to the best of their ability to the post-flood effort, Dnevnik reported.

HSE repays another EUR 142m in state aid

LJUBLJANA - The state-owned power group HSE has repaid EUR 142 million of the EUR 492 million it received as recapitalisation in December 2022. This comes three months after HSE repaid the first EUR 100 million. The recapitalisation was needed due to low hydropower output and coal supply issues and was meant to be repaid from the outset.

Bohinj agriculture seeing revival thanks to tourism

BOHINJ - As agriculture had been increasingly abandoned in Bohinj and focus shifted to tourism, the municipality has launched a project this year to have the two sectors work together. Local farmers and vegetable growers supply hospitality service providers with home-grown fresh produce, which has proved to be a win-win solution. The first step was to identify the needs of the hospitality sector, after which several young farmers joined the project. Tourism services providers are happy with the results so far.

Jurij Kalan's humorous wooden sculptures on display at Ljubljana City Art Gallery

LJUBLJANA - A retrospective exhibition of painter Jurij Kalan's works will open tonight at the Ljubljana City Art Gallery. Titled Fractions, it features what the artist dubs as "shepherd's woodcarvings" along with his most prominent paintings and sketches depicting motives of everyday life. The largest exhibition of Kalan's creations to date puts on display works created between 1991 and 2023, including paintings of various formats, sketches, photographs and graphic prints, as well as painted stone and wooden heads and totems.

East Asian items from Celje museum's collection put on show

CELJE - The Celje Regional Museum will put on show tonight a number of items from Asia that it keeps in its Asia and Latin America collection. Some of the items at the exhibition are displayed for the first time, as the museum tries to establish their exact origin. Visitors will see a number of wooden objects such as coffee tables, small boxes and decorative screens, alongside porcelain and ceramic items, such as vases. Most of the items were made in China and Japan to the taste of Westerners destined for export to the West, and originate from castles or homes of the wealthy, upper middle class.